New deposit system takes 50 groszy kaucja per can but consumers lose 7-8 groszy scrap value each. Annual aluminum cans production 65-95 thousand tons equals 4.1-5.3 billion cans worth 400-475 million PLN scrap. Buying 10 cans costs 5 PLN kaucja recovered but 80 groszy scrap lost plus time wasted. System forces consumers to sort and return cans benefiting operators with hundreds of millions profit. Critics say prices won't drop by scrap value so net loss to buyers. Deposit system duplicates modern Polish sorting plants built since 2013. Building kaucyjny costs nearly 40 billion PLN while scrap value transfers to firms. Aluminum cans rarely littered as people sell to scrap for cash. Previous system let people crush and sell cans recovering packaging cost. Now operators capture scrap value without price adjustment. Internal estimates claim 200-500 million PLN annual theft via scale effect. One pusher example: bottle cheaper than can previously due to included packaging cost. Modern tech sorts cans automatically but kaucja relies on manual consumer effort. System originated in 1990s before advanced recycling existed. Poland has one of Europe's newest sorting networks achieving 50% plastic recycle rate.