Aluminium cans accounted for 29.3% of beverage packaging placed on the Romanian market through the country’s Deposit Return System in the second quarter of 2026, according to an analysis by Every Can Counts of official RetuRO data.
The figure was up from 21.6% in the first quarter of 2024, indicating a shift in Romania’s beverage packaging mix since the DRS was launched at the end of 2023.
Metal packaging has also increased its share of returned containers. Cans represented 28.8% of packaging returned through the system in the second quarter of 2026, compared with 18.7% during the first quarter of 2024.
Plastic remains the largest material category but its share of packaging placed on the market declined from 61% to 51% over the same period. Glass maintained a relatively stable share of about 20%.
Every Can Counts attributed the growth of cans to the expansion of canned beverage ranges, demand for lightweight and portable formats, and brands’ increasing interest in recyclable packaging and distinctive decoration.
The organisation said aluminium cans can be repeatedly recycled without losing material quality and can return to retail shelves as new cans within approximately 60 days. Recycling aluminium also requires substantially less energy than producing primary metal from raw materials.
The format’s decoration capabilities are another factor supporting adoption, particularly among brands targeting younger consumers. The entire surface can be printed, allowing manufacturers to use different colours, finishes, inks and limited-edition designs without applying a separate label.
Romania’s aluminium can recycling rate reached 75% in 2025, according to Every Can Counts, compared with 35% in 2022.
Research commissioned by the organisation also suggested that Romanian consumers are interested in a more accessible and engaging recycling process. Its 2025 global study, covering more than 16,000 respondents in 16 countries, included 1,013 participants from Romania.
Three-quarters of Romanian respondents said they would recycle more if the process were more enjoyable or interactive, including through rewards, games or applications that record recycling activity. Some 71% said they felt personally responsible for recycling, while 91% believed producers should be required to use fully recyclable packaging or materials containing recycled content.
Respondents also identified faster processing and additional return locations as areas in which the DRS could be improved.
“The fact that more and more brands are choosing the aluminium can is good news for circularity,” said David Van Heuverswyn, global director of Every Can Counts. “It is a packaging that is infinitely recyclable and already collected at scale, which means that every can recycled can become another can, in as little as 60 days.”
“When people see how quickly the loop closes, recycling becomes a gesture with meaning. That is what we set out to do at Every Can Counts: to bring circularity closer to people, so that every can truly counts.”
Every Can Counts Romania has also been promoting recycling through public campaigns and interactive art projects. Its “I CAN” installations, created from aluminium cans by Romanian artist Sergiu Chihaia, are intended to demonstrate the material’s circularity and make recycling more visible to consumers.
According to the organisation, Bucharest and the counties of Timiș, Cluj, Ilfov and Constanța are among the areas recording the strongest recycling performance.
