BCRS (Beverage Container Return Scheme)

Explain Like I’m Five

Part of what you pay for an eligible bottled or canned drink is a deposit on its container. Returning the empty container gets that deposit back and sends the material for recycling. The idea is to make an empty bottle worth returning instead of throwing away.

How It Works

Buy a drink bearing the deposit mark, empty the container, then return it at a designated return point. Return Right machines check eligible containers and arrange a digital refund.

Where You’ll Run Into It

On drink packaging, supermarket checkout signs and Return Right notices around Singapore.

NEA explains the agency behind the environmental scheme. Return Right points include some hawker centres, so a drink bought with lunch may lead to a container-return trip.

Example

“Keep that bottle—we can return it after shopping.”

A shopper keeps an eligible empty bottle to recover its deposit.

The Part People Get Wrong

This is a refundable deposit, not simply a higher drink price. Not every container qualifies: the deposit mark matters. Participating Return Right F&B outlets have a separate dine-in arrangement where they retain containers without charging diners the deposit.