Collecting deposits at school: a guide to a campaign that lasts

Friday lunchtime, just after sixth period. Four empty bottles are lying on the floor in front of the drinks vending machine, two are standing on the windowsill, one has rolled under the bench. The caretaker knows the sight. On Monday it is back again.

At most schools, empties accumulate every day, and most of the time they end up where they are of no use to anyone. Yet every can and every single-use bottle carries a deposit amount that can be collected — 25 cents, set out in the Packaging Act. Add that up over a school year and you arrive at a sum you can actually do something with.

The idea is quickly told, and yet it is often abandoned after just a few weeks. Not because it is a bad one, but because nobody has clarified who empties the container when the class that started the project happens to be away on a school trip.

This article describes how to set up a collection campaign at a school so that it survives everyday life: who carries it, what the school leadership will want to know, where the container stands, what the funding looks like and what happens during the holidays.

Why schools are good at collecting — and where things get stuck

Schools have two advantages that other places do not. First, the same people come to the same place every day. What has once become routine stays routine — unlike at an event, where every visitor is there for the first time. Second, there is a natural structure: classes, year groups, a student council. Responsibility can be shared out.

The disadvantage sits right next to it. Schools are built on teachers whose time is fully committed. Any task that comes on top and has no fixed place disappears within a few weeks. When a collection campaign fails, it is almost always because of this — not because of a lack of interest.

This leads to the most important rule: The campaign must work without the permanent effort of a single person. Everything else is subordinate to that.

Who carries the campaign: the decisive preliminary question

Before anything is ordered, it should be settled who is responsible. In practice, three models have proven themselves.

The student council. The obvious route, and the one with the greatest learning effect. A handover is important: the student council changes every year, and the project must not end with one year group leaving after their final exams. A short handover sheet with contact persons and the procedure is enough.

A fixed class or school club. For example an environmental club or a class that takes on the project for one school year. Clear responsibility, but the same handover question at the end of the year.

The school support association. The most unobtrusive and most stable route. The support association persists across year groups, can manage money and is used to carrying projects. For visibility, you still need students standing behind it.

A combination is often the most sustainable: the support association holds the structure, the student council makes the campaign visible.

The approval: what the school leadership wants to know

A school leadership rarely says no on principle. It says no when questions remain open. These four come up almost every time — answer them in advance and you save yourself a round of meetings:

• Who clears this away? Answer: a named group with a named substitute, not “the students”.
• What happens to the money? Answer: a goal set in advance, transparently traceable. Leave this open and you will get queries from parents.
• Is it hygienic? Answer: the container takes in empty deposit items, no food waste. Residual liquid does not accumulate, because the empties are removed regularly.
• Who is liable if something happens? Answer: the container stands securely, has no sharp edges and is made of LLDPE, an impact-resistant plastic. For unsupervised locations there is a locking system.

Depending on the federal state and type of school, the school conference may also need to be involved if spaces are used permanently. A glance at the school rules clarifies this in two minutes.

The right location

Placement decides between success and failure — more than any poster. The container belongs where drinks are emptied, and on the route the students take anyway.

Reliably effective: next to the drinks vending machine, in the entrance area of the canteen, at the exit to the schoolyard.

Rarely effective: locations in side corridors, in the staff area or anywhere that requires a detour. Twenty metres of detour are enough for the bottle to end up in the nearest waste bin.

For larger schools with several buildings, more than one location is worthwhile. The container is 1.80 metres tall and built in the shape of a bottle — it is recognised even from a distance and needs no signage.

What it costs and how it is funded

A deposit container is a one-off purchase, not an ongoing commitment. The prices are openly listed in the Shop: the container itself, plus optionally a standard wrap or a design in the school's own look, a locking system for unsupervised locations and deposit bags as consumables. Collection of the gathered empties is free of charge.

For funding, there are several common routes at schools:

• The support association. The most common route. A one-off purchase with a visible benefit is easy to make the case for.
• A local sponsor. A business from the neighbourhood covers the purchase and appears on the wrap. For the sponsor, a presence seen by hundreds of people every day — considerably more effective than an advert in the school yearbook.
• Funds from the student council or proceeds from a previous campaign.
• The school authority, if sustainability is on the agenda anyway.

How many containers make sense for the size of your school can be estimated with the Needs Calculator . What fits your individual case, however, we prefer to clarify in a conversation — the differences between a primary school with 180 children and a comprehensive school with 1,200 are considerable.

Making the campaign known

A container that simply appears one morning will be used. One the school has heard about beforehand will be used considerably more often. The effort is small:

An announcement or an item at the school assembly. Two sentences: that collecting is happening, where the container stands, what the money is used for.

A notice on the container itself — not on the noticeboard. That is the right place for it, because that is exactly where the decision is made.

A paragraph in the parents' newsletter. Parents are then more likely to give their children the empties that accumulate at home. That increases the volume noticeably.

And later: show the result. When the first donation goes to a project, that belongs on the school website and in the parents' newsletter. That is the moment that carries the campaign through the second half of the year.

Choosing the donation goal — a project in itself

The question of where the money goes is no formality. It helps decide whether the campaign is supported. A goal the school has chosen itself will be defended; one that someone from outside has set will merely be administered.

That is why our partners have a say in which project is supported. The selection is listed under Donation Goals and ranges from food banks to education projects to nature conservation initiatives. Who is behind it and why the network works on a voluntary basis, you can read under About Us.

At schools, a vote is a natural fit. The student council presents two or three projects, the classes vote. That costs one school lesson and delivers three things at once: the students engage with the projects, the decision is legitimised, and the campaign has a face from day one — not “we are collecting deposits” but “we are collecting for this one project”.

A tip from experience: choose a goal whose impact can be told as a story. Something you can show a picture of or tell a story about carries a campaign for years. An abstract goal loses traction after the second half-year.

Some schools change the goal annually, in line with the school year's theme. That keeps things fresh and gives every year group something of its own.

A link to the classroom

The collection campaign can be brought into lessons with little effort — not as an extra project, but as an example of topics that are on the curriculum anyway.

General science and biology: What happens to a PET bottle after it is returned? Why is collecting by material type the prerequisite for recycling?

Politics and economics: The deposit system as a steering instrument. Why does the state charge 25 cents, and what does this amount achieve?

Mathematics: Projections, charts, forecasts. Your own collection volume is a data set the class cares about, because it belongs to them.

Chemistry: PET and aluminium, their properties and what recycling means in technical terms.

The advantage over a textbook example: the object stands in the corridor, and the numbers are your own.

Everyday life: what happens after week three

The first two weeks run by themselves. After that, it is decided whether the campaign stays. Three things help:

A fixed date. Not “when it is full” but a set weekday. For example every Friday during the main break, ten minutes, two people. What has a fixed date gets done.

A rota. Like the board-cleaning duty. Rotating class by class, planned half a year in advance. That answers the question “who exactly?” once and for all.

A visible interim goal. Do not wait until the end of the school year to report — do it in between. A short notice with the current status keeps things alive.

What does not help: competitions between classes that aim at volume. They generate short-term attention and then a slump that sits below the starting level.

What typically goes wrong

Four patterns come up again and again. Know them and you avoid them without effort.

The campaign depends on one person. A committed teacher starts the project and carries it alone. If they are absent, change schools or take on a form tutor role, the campaign ends with them. The countermeasure is right at the top of this article: a named substitute, from day one.

The container is in the wrong place. Often where there happened to be space, not where people drink. If little has come in after four weeks, it is almost never a lack of interest but the location. A container can be moved — that is the first measure, not the last.

Nothing is reported. Collecting goes on for half a year, then the money goes out and nobody hears about it. In the next half-year, participation is lower, and no one knows why. A short report after the first collection is the single most effective step of the whole campaign.

Competition replaces routine. A class competition brings three good weeks and then a slump. Competitions are suited to the launch, not as an operating model. What lasts is the rota.

Holidays, emptying, collection

The collected empties go into deposit bags and are stored temporarily in a lockable room — the caretaker's area, a supply room, the bicycle cellar. Once enough has come together, we collect it, free of charge, across Germany and in Austria. How that works is described under Have your deposit donations collected.

Before the holidays , the container should be emptied. Leaving full empties standing over six weeks of summer holidays is the only way an odour problem can still arise. One item on the checklist for the last week of school is enough.

For unsupervised locations — schoolyard, sports ground, open areas — the locking system is recommended. Otherwise the container becomes self-service.

From the idea to the first collection

A realistic sequence once the decision has been made:

Step 1 — Clarify who carries it. Who is responsible for the campaign, and who stands in for that person? Without this point, it is better not to start at all.

Step 2 — Obtain approval. With the four questions from above at the ready.

Step 3 — Secure funding. Support association, sponsor or school authority.

Step 4 — Order and design. Allow around two weeks for delivery; with your own design, add the time needed to agree the draft.

Step 5 — Set up and announce. Announcement, notice, parents' newsletter.

Step 6 — Start the rota. From the very first week, not only once things get stuck.

Step 7 — Collection. We collect, redeem the deposit and pass on the proceeds in full. You have a say in which project is supported; the selection is listed under Donation Goals.

A good time to start is the beginning of a half-year. The campaign then coincides with responsibilities that are changing anyway.

Frequently asked questions

From what school size is it worthwhile?

Even small primary schools collect meaningfully, because empties are often brought in from home there. What matters is not the number of children but whether there is a place where drinks are regularly emptied.

What about glass bottles?

Reusable glass bottles carry a lower deposit and are heavier. For everyday school use, cans and single-use plastic bottles are the more practical part.

Is approval from the school authority needed?

For a free-standing container indoors, generally not. As soon as anything structural is changed or an outdoor area is occupied permanently, it is better to ask.

Can we design the container ourselves?

Yes. The container body, the neck and the area around the insertion opening can all be designed — with the school logo, a motto or a class's own design. We handle the production according to your specifications.

How long does it take until the first payout?

That depends on how quickly the container fills. We collect as soon as a sensible amount has come together.

Does this apply to clubs as well?

Yes, and with the same rules. At the side of the pitch, in the clubhouse, at home matches. The question of who carries it is just as decisive there as at school.

Where can we find the details of the offer?

On the page Collecting deposit at school you will find services, the process and answers to further questions.

What remains at the end

A collection campaign at a school is not a major project. It is a container in the right place, a rota and one person who feels responsible. Once these three things are in place, it runs for years.

And along the way it achieves something that is hard to convey in lessons: that a small thing, repeated a hundred times over, becomes something. One bottle is 25 cents. One school is a whole school year.

If you are planning a campaign at your school or in your club, write to us at info@spendedeinpfand.com or arrange a free consultation via the contact page. We will tell you what makes sense for your size — even if that is less than you had thought.