1,7 Billion environmental acts in a year

The yearly beverage package returns in Finland are 1.7 Billion = x KG

Recycle – don’t throw in the nature The used beverage cans returned in Finland during a year would cover 1000 ha of land The cans could cover a highway from Helsinki to Lapland The cans in queue would go three times around the world. It would take 69 days to drive past of the line on average speed of 80 km/h

The Finns are the best beverage package returners in the world Return rate of beverage packages is more than 90%

What is PALPA?

Shareholders Suomen Palautuspakkaus Oy Palpa Lasi Oy Beverage industry Hartwall / Unibrew Olvi Sinebrychoff / Carlsberg Retailers Inex Partners / COOP Ruokakesko Tuko Logistics Alko Altia Cisa Fondberg Hartwa-Trade Gust. Ranin Association of small breweries Suomen Palautuspakkaus

PALPA in brief Suomen Palautuspakkaus Oy was established in 1996 to administrate recycling system for used beverage cans with deposit Ekopullo to administrate the recycling of refillable packages in 2004 One-way PET bottle recycling system was introduced in 2008 One-way glass bottle recycling system was introduced in Group turnover appr. 70 M € PALPA is a non-profit company 13 employees

MISSION PALPA takes care of deposit beverage package recycling in responsible and cost efficient manner VISION PALPA runs the best deposit beverage package recycling systems for consumers, beverage industry and the environment

1500 New packages (SKUs) inspected and approved 1.7 Bn Returned deposit packages 300 M € worth of deposits credited Metric tons of UBC aluminium recycled PALPA in Metric tons of PET-bottle bales recycled Metric tons of glass recycled Retail collection locations for consumers Collection locations in hotels, restaurants, catering (HoReCa) Reverse vending machines (RVM)

Return rate 95 % Deposit value 0.15 € Volume 1.2 Billion returned cans MT of UBC-aluminium Benefit UBC aluminium is melted in recycling furnaces in UK and France and casted to aluminium ingots. The ingots are rolled to material of new beverage cans. The aluminium can be infinitely recycled and energy needed to recycle cans is only 5% compared to virgin aluminium material. Beverage can PALPA’s recycling systems:

Return rate 93 % Deposit value Depending on package size 0.10 €, 0.20 € or 0.40 € Volume 350 Million returned bottles MT of PET Benefit Clear PET-bottles can be recycled to new bottles (B2B) and other food packages. Colored PET-bottles are recycled to raw material of packaging or textile industry. One-way plastic bottle PALPA’s recycling systems:

Return rate 89 % Deposit value 0.10 € Sales volume 107 Million returned deposit bottles MT of recycled glass Benefit Glass bottles are recycled to new bottles or raw materials i.e. insulation products in construction industry. Using recycled glass as raw material consumes 30 % less energy than virgin material. One-way glass bottle PALPA’s recycling systems:

Factors of high return rates Correct deposit values Wide coverage of deposit packages Learned return habit Environmental awareness Wide consumer collection network Location of consumer collection locations Well functioning RVMs

Recycling systems and operations

Based on governmental steering Packaging tax for certain beverages - Importers and producers have to pay packaging tax of 0.51 € / ltr for packages in customs tariff group CN 22 - Importer or producer is allowed to tax exempt if the company and the products are registered in deposit recycling system approved by environmental authorities Joining in recycling system not mandatory Deposit recycling systems are approved and controlled by Environmental Authority under Ministry of Environment

The taxation has steered the packaging choices The change in package taxation during caused considerable growth of one-way packages in the Finnish market

Operating network PALPA’s strategy is to run the recycling system by a network of companies Operating with a network allows flexibility and scalability All operations are outsourced

Recycling is collaboration Producers and importers PALPA Consumers RetailersHoReCa Recyclers Handling plants RVM producers Advertisement agency Package material producers Transport companies Pirkanmaa ELY-centre Finnish Customs IT system Service provider Communication agency Ministry of Environment Law offices Wholesalers Sticker producer Retailer and producer associations Producer communities Competition and consumer authority Credit providers Media Environmental register of packages

Material flow Beverage producer / importer Retailer / Return location Transport operator Baling and counting plant Material recycler Consumer 7 New packages made of recycled material are manufactured 6 Baled material is delivered to material recycler 5 Packages are transported to baling and counting plant 1 Products are sold to stores 2 Consumer buys the product 3 Consumer returns the package 4 Transport operator collects the packages

Deposit flow Beverage producer / importer Retailer / Return location Transport operator Baling and counting plant Material recycler Consumer Importers and producers pay the deposit to PALPA Retailer pays the deposit within the product price Consumer pays the deposit The deposit is returned to consumer The deposit is credited to the retailer by PALPA PALPA gets the information of returned packages from retail location (RVM), transport operator and counting plant € € €€ € Money (deposit) Data € i i i ii

Other fees and compensations Beverage producer / importer Retailer / Return location Transport operator Baling and counting plant Material recycler Consumer Beverage importers / producers pay a recycling fee to cover the rest of the recycling system costs PALPA pays a transportation fee for each transportation unit collected from the return location Material recycler pays for the recycled material PALPA pays for baling and counting service PALPA pays a handling fee to the retailer for each package collected from consumers €i € € €€ € i ii € € € € Money (other compensation) Data Money (deposit) € i €

Package materials and markings PALPA inspects all the packages that are registered in recycling systems before they are accepted. Materials have to comply with specifications agreed with recycling plants Deposit value has to be clearly marked in product and comply with marking instructions Package has to be recognizable by all the reverse vending machines to secure reliable deposit payout to consumer

Recognition of packages is important To secure correct payment to consumer To support early sorting of material To make sure that system costs are correctly allocated to different recycling systems and companies The system is based on package recognition Recognition is made by reverse vending machine The RVM recognizes barcode and shape / dimensions Recognition information is compared with package database in RVM RVM database is updated 24 times a year The RVM prints out a receipt of deposits to the consumer, sorts the packages and in most cases compacts the packages The information of returns is collected and sent to PALPA in electronic mode

Majority of recycling system costs is related to handling and logistics Challenge: Wide consumer collection network is one of major factors in reaching high return rates. The low population density in Finland increases the cost of transportation Solutions: Baling and counting operations have been decentralized to several locations in Finland. Material is compacted and sorted as early as possible after the collection.

Financing the recycling systems Recycling system revenues come mainly from material sales and recycling fees Recycling fees are paid by beverage producers and importers All the fees and compensations are decided by PALPA board of directors –All the fees are based on real costs. PALPA is a non-profit company –All the recycling systems have their separate P&Ls and their own pricing. No cross subvention between the systems is allowed. –All the fees and compensations are same for companies selling, collecting or transporting similar packages €

Material recycling

Aluminium The compacted cans are pressed in bales and delivered to recycling plant. In the recycling plant the bales are melted in a furnace and casted into aluminium ingots. The ingots are delivered to a rolling plant and rolled to very thin rolls which are further manufactured to can bodies The nearest recycling plants for UBC-aluminium are in UK, Germany and France

PET Plastic bottles are compacted and baled. The bales are shipped to recycling plants in Finland, Latvia and Germany. The bottles are sorted and ground to flakes. Cap and label residues are removed and flakes are washed and sorted. The washed clear PET flakes are processed to granulate / URRC-flakes which can be used as raw material of new PET packages. The coloured flakes are used as raw material in packaging and textile industry

Glass The glass bins are emptied at baling plants and glass is transported in containers to a recycling plant in Finland At the recycling plant the glass bottles are crushed, washed and color sorted by a sorting line to cullets The new products are made from melted cullets All the glass bottles are recycled in a recycling plant located in Finland

Summary of PALPA

Short summary of PALPA Suomen Palautuspakkaus Oy (PALPA) administrates and develops three deposit beverage package recycling systems PALPA does not own any part of the recycling system or does not have any ownership within system operators. By joining in a recycling system the beverage producers and importers can get an exempt from package tax The Recycling system costs are covered with recycling fees paid by producers and importers. PALPA is a non-profit company. Recycling systems operated by PALPA collect annually approximately 1.7 Billion packages and tons of material Return rates are the best in the world, over 90 % All the packages are recycled into new packages or raw materials for other industries 1 2 3