Every Can Counts analysis: aluminium cans are the only packaging type in the DRS with growing volumes both placed on the market and collected

According to final data published by RetuRO, the administrator of Romania's Deposit Return System (DRS), and analysed by Every Can Counts\*, the recycling rate for aluminium cans reached 80.5% in the first nine months of 2026. In the same period last year, the rate stood at 75%.

The can's share held at 29% in the third quarter, and the number of cans returned was 6.3% higher than in the same period of 2025 (January to September).

In a year when the total number of deposit-bearing containers placed on the market fell by 2.4%, the can was the only packaging type to grow. Between January and September, 2% more cans were placed on the market than in the same period of 2025, while plastic and glass both declined.

A quarter in two phases: peak volumes in summer, faster recycling in September

Summer remains the season when the most cans are placed on the market, and returns and recycling naturally lag behind the moment of purchase. As a result, the recycling rate fell below 80% during the summer months. In September, more cans entered recycling facilities than were placed on the market during the month, some of them bought over the summer, and the nine-month rate rose to 80.5%.

85% return rate and 29% market share: the can consolidates its position

Romanians are returning more cans than last year, and returns are growing faster than the number of cans placed on the market. In the first nine months of 2026, the return rate for cans through the DRS reached 85%, up from 82% in the same period last year. The pace picked up after the summer peak: the cumulative return rate rose from 80.9% at the end of July to 85% at the end of September.

Progress in collection has gone hand in hand with a stable market position. In the third quarter, too, nearly three in ten deposit-bearing containers placed on the market were cans, a 29% share, in line with the previous quarter. The can thus remains the second most common packaging type in the system, behind plastic and ahead of glass, having accounted for just over 20% of deposit-bearing containers at the start of 2024.

Today's can, tomorrow's raw material

Aluminium can be melted and reshaped an unlimited number of times without losing quality, which makes the can a package designed from the outset to stay in circulation. A returned drink can can be recycled repeatedly to produce new cans, saving energy and valuable resources. Producing aluminium from recycled material requires up to 95% less energy than producing it from primary raw materials.

The advantage is visible on a global scale as well: the can is the world's most recycled\* beverage container, and around three quarters of all the aluminium ever produced is still in use. For producers, this turns every collected can into a resource: the aluminium that comes back through the DRS is raw material that no longer has to be extracted, with far lower energy consumption and the same quality as new material.