No more double-deposit: Soda and beer will be cheaper

Stores in Greenland will no longer have to pay double deposit for beverages purchased from Denmark. According to the Chief Financial Officer of Kalaallit Nunaanni Brugseni, Malene Broberg, consumers will benefit from the savings.

Now the double mortgage is over in Greenland.

This makes soda and beer cheaper.

– We are lowering prices. We are very happy that it has finally succeeded, because it has been something we have been working on for a very long time. , says Malene Broberg, CFO of Kalaallit Nunaanni Brugseni.

Until July 1, Greenlandic stores paid for both Greenlandic and Danish goods imported from Denmark.

– Greenlandic shops and consumers will no longer have to pay both Danish and Greenlandic deposits when they buy deposit-labeled beverages from Denmark, according to a press release from the Ministry of Environment and Nature.

Facts about the mortgage order

• The amendment to the Mortgage Executive Order will enter into force on July 1, 2025.

• The mortgage executive order is handled by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency.

• Greenland introduced a Greenlandic mortgage system on January 1, 2024.

• The Danish Return System operates the Danish deposit and return system. When companies market beverages with deposit labels on the Danish market, they pay an advance deposit to the Danish Return System. The Danish Return System pays out the deposit when they receive empty packaging back. If the empty packaging is not returned, but ends up in Greenland, for example, the deposit becomes income for the Danish Return System. When Danish supermarkets cannot get their prepaid deposit back, the cost is instead passed on to the importer in Greenland or the Faroe Islands. Ultimately, the cost ends up with the consumers.

• With the new rules, Danish companies can request the Danish Return System to refund deposits for beverages exported to Greenland and the Faroe Islands and which are included in their national deposit systems.

Source: government.gl

Source: government.com

Prices are reduced one by one

Malene Broberg explains how the abolition of double mortgage will benefit consumers:

– We follow the price reduction ‘one to one’. This means that if the deposit on a product drops by 80 øre, we lower the price by 80 øre. It varies greatly, depending on which product you are talking about. Some bottles need to be reduced by 80 øre, other bottles need to be reduced by 2 kroner and 40 øre. Depending on the size of the bottle or can.

Common Sense

The abolition of the double mortgage system is considered common sense by the Atassut party:

– It is common sense that Greenlandic consumers should not have to pay a deposit twice for the same bottle. Atassut has been pushing for a solution, and we are pleased that it has now been successful in cooperation with the Danish Minister of the Environment and the Greenland Government, says the chairman of Atassut, Aqqalu C. Jerimiassen.

– This shows what we can achieve in the Commonwealth when we cooperate. It is a practical improvement, and it is our task to find other parts of the trade that do not benefit us economically, and come up with similar solutions, says Aqqalu C. Jerimiassen.