Analysis of the implementation of refillable plastic bottles from the perspective of a beverage company in the Czech Republic

The aim of this master's thesis is to evaluate the impacts of a potential transition to refillable PET bottles (refPET) from the perspective of a beverage company in the Czech environment. The thesis combines secondary data from academic studies, primary data from expert interviews, and an analytical model of material flows. The results demonstrate that introducing refPET represents a fundamental operational change; it requires the restructuring and expansion of production lines, generates a significant drop in bottling efficiency, and increases storage capacity requirements. Furthermore, the mathematical model of material demands refutes the assumption of ecological superiority for this circular system, as the necessity of a massive bottle pool of heavy refillable bottles and creates leads to a long-term higher annual consumption of plastics compared to linear PET. Therefore, the thesis concludes by recommending not to transform operations to refPET, but rather to optimize existing single-use packaging by introducing a deposit return system (DRS) and maximizing the use of recycled PET (rPET).