Germany's Pfand System in Cologne: Why Your Grocery Receipt Has Deposits, and Where You Get Them Back

The Official Rule

Nearly every bottle or can of a beverage sold in Germany carries a Pfand, a deposit added to the purchase price that you get back when you return the empty container, and the system splits cleanly into two categories that work quite differently from each other. This applies everywhere in the country, Cologne included, regardless of which supermarket chain you’re shopping at.

Einwegpfand (single-use deposit) applies to most plastic bottles and cans, and the amount is deliberately simple: a flat 25 cents, regardless of the bottle’s size, brand, or what was inside it. Retailers who sell drinks in single-use packaging are legally required to take back empty single-use containers made of the same material and refund the deposit, free of charge, and critically, this obligation isn’t limited to the specific store where you bought the drink. Any store selling that same material type of single-use container has to accept your return. In practice, this happens through a reverse vending machine (Rücknahmeautomat), usually positioned near a supermarket’s entrance.

Mehrwegpfand (reusable deposit) works on a genuinely different logic, covering refillable glass bottles and some reusable plastic ones. There’s no single uniform marking system for these the way there is for Einweg, though bottles are commonly labeled directly with words like “Mehrweg,” “Leihflasche” (loaner bottle), or “Pfandflasche” (deposit bottle) on the bottle itself or its label. The deposit amount isn’t standardized either: bottles up to 0.5 liters, the classic beer bottle size, typically carry 8 cents, while larger bottles, a 1-liter juice bottle, for instance, carry 15 cents instead.

The Mehrweg return rule is genuinely narrower than the Einweg one, and this is where newcomers most often get caught out. A store selling Mehrweg drinks only has to take back bottles matching the same type, shape, and size it actually sells itself, brand doesn’t matter, but format does. This means a Mehrweg bottle from a format or brand a particular store doesn’t carry can legitimately be refused there, even though the exact same bottle would be accepted without question at a store that does stock it. What decides whether an Einweg container gets accepted anywhere, meanwhile, is simply the material it’s made of, not its shape, its brand, or its original contents.

The reuse cycle behind Mehrweg bottles is substantial: glass Mehrweg bottles typically get refilled around 50 times and can stay in active circulation for up to 7 years, while reusable plastic bottles get refilled up to around 20 times before being retired.

Cologne’s Own Angle: REWE’s Reusable-Container Experiment

There’s a reason this topic has a slightly different local flavor in Cologne. REWE Group, one of Germany’s largest retail and wholesale cooperatives, has its corporate headquarters on Domstraße in Cologne, and the city has become the testing ground for the company’s newest twist on the Pfand concept.

Starting in late 2025 and rolling out through 2026, REWE has been piloting a reusable-container deposit for dry groceries, something the standard Pfand system was never built for. The test began with legume products (beans, lentils, and similar items) from the brand Müller’s Mühle, packaged in resealable, dishwasher-safe plastic tubs developed with CU Mehrweg, a startup based in Mannheim. Shoppers pay an extra 50-cent deposit on the tub at checkout, and get it back the same way they’d redeem a bottle deposit, at the store’s automated return machine. The pilot runs across 22 participating REWE stores in Cologne, Bonn, and Düsseldorf, for an initial three-month test period that the company said could extend to six months depending on how customers respond.

It’s worth being clear about what this is and isn’t: it doesn’t change the 25-cent Einweg or 8/15-cent Mehrweg rules for drinks described above, and it isn’t available at every supermarket in the city, only the specific participating REWE locations. But if you notice a beans or lentils tub carrying its own deposit sticker at a Cologne REWE, this pilot is why, and it’s a preview of where Germany’s deposit culture may be headed for dry food packaging more broadly, tested first in the city where REWE itself is based.

Photo by Pavel Danilyuk on Pexels

What Real People Say

The detail that trips up newcomers most consistently is discovering that a Mehrweg bottle got rejected by a reverse vending machine at a store that simply doesn’t carry that particular brand or bottle shape, and mistaking this for a broken machine or an error, rather than recognizing it as the system working exactly as designed. The practical lesson people describe learning quickly: if a Mehrweg bottle gets rejected somewhere, it’s often worth trying a store that actually stocks that brand or drink type rather than assuming something’s wrong with the bottle or the machine.

The other common adjustment newcomers describe is simply building the habit of keeping empty bottles and cans around to return, rather than treating them as regular trash, since the deposits add up meaningfully over a household’s regular shopping, and Pfand collection points are genuinely part of the routine grocery run for most German households, Cologne’s included, rather than an occasional errand.

Step by Step

1. Check whether a bottle or can is Einweg or Mehrweg by looking for “Mehrweg,” “Leihflasche,” or “Pfandflasche” printed on it, if none of those appear, it’s likely a standard single-use container.
2. For Einweg containers, return them at any store selling that same material type, not necessarily the store where you bought the drink.
3. Use the reverse vending machine near the entrance of most supermarkets, it will scan and accept the container automatically if it’s a format that store handles.
4. For Mehrweg bottles, return them specifically at a store that sells that type, shape, and size, rather than assuming any store will take any reusable bottle back.
5. If a Mehrweg bottle gets rejected, try a different store that actually stocks that brand or drink type, rather than assuming the machine is broken.
6. Keep your Pfand receipts if the machine issues them, they’re typically redeemed at the checkout for cash or credited toward your purchase.
7. At a Cologne REWE, check whether dry-goods items like legumes carry their own deposit sticker, that’s the newer reusable-container pilot, not the standard bottle system, and it’s returned the same way, at the store’s automated machine.

Compliance Note

This page explains the general framework for Germany’s Pfand deposit system, but specific deposit amounts and store policies can vary or change over time, and the REWE reusable-container pilot described here is a limited-time test that may end, expand, or change terms. For anything specific to a particular product, retailer, or the pilot’s current status, check directly with that store or the product’s packaging.