That extra couple of kronor on every drink in your receipt isn’t a tax — it’s your money on a round trip. Here’s how to get it back, why the machine hates your German cans, and the button that makes leftover empties disappear gracefully on your last day.
When you need this
You’ve spotted “+pant 2,00” lines on a grocery receipt. A cabin week has produced a clinking bag of empties. The machine at ICA keeps spitting back the cans you carried over on the ferry. Or you’re leaving tomorrow and wondering what to do with a week of aluminum.
What pant costs and pays back
Since September 1, 2025, the deposit is:
| Container | Pant |
|---|---|
| Can (any size) | 2 kr |
| PET bottle under 1 liter | 2 kr |
| PET bottle 1 liter or larger | 3 kr |
One nuance during the current transition: containers printed with the older marks (1 kr / 2 kr) are still in circulation — producers may sell them into stores until the end of 2026 — and the machine always pays what the mark on the container says, not today’s rate. So a mixed bag pays mixed amounts, and that’s correct behavior, not a malfunction. (It also means most older blog posts quote amounts that no longer match your receipt.)
Old-marked containers stay redeemable well beyond that: the final day to return them is 31 December 2028. Nothing for a visitor to worry about — but it is a real end date rather than an open-ended promise.
The deposit is charged automatically at the till on virtually every canned or PET-bottled drink sold in Sweden — the law requires drinks sold here to be connected to the return system, run nationally by Returpack under the Pantamera banner.
How to use the machine, step by step
- Keep empties intact — don’t crush cans or flatten bottles. The machine reads barcode and shape; crushed containers are refused. A quick rinse keeps the machine (and the queue) happy.
- Find the pantautomat — at the entrance of practically every supermarket, any chain, no purchase needed. Where you bought the drinks doesn’t matter, as long as it was in Sweden.
- Feed containers one at a time, barcode roughly forward. The screen counts your total as the marks are read.
- Choose your ending: the receipt button prints a voucher you redeem at that store’s checkout — against groceries, or as cash at a staffed till — or the donate button sends the whole total to charity.
- Use the voucher the same visit. It belongs to that store, and a crumpled voucher three weeks later is a gamble nobody needs.
After a party-sized week, some locations also offer Pantamera Express — sealed-bag drop stations credited via the app — but for normal holiday volumes, the ordinary machine is faster than downloading anything.
Why the machine rejects some cans
Three honest reasons, in order of tourist frequency:
- It’s foreign. Deposit systems are national. A can bought in Germany carries Germany’s Pfand and no Swedish pant mark — the machine can’t pay Swedish deposit on it, same brand or not. Ferry-run provisions come deposit-free and leave refund-free; put foreign cans in ordinary metal recycling.
- It’s crushed. Shape matters to the scanner. The satisfying crush costs exactly one deposit each time.
- It’s not a pant container. Juice and dairy cartons and some imports sit outside the system — no mark, no deposit, recycle as packaging. Glass bottles don’t go here either: glass goes to glass-packaging recycling — a recycling station until end-2026, increasingly the bins where you stay — covered in recycling in Sweden.
Mistakes to avoid
- Crushing cans “to save space” — see above.
- Concluding the machine is broken after feeding it Danish cans.
- Binning pant containers — that’s literal money in the trash.
- Losing the voucher, or presenting it at a different chain days later.
- Trusting pre-2025 amounts from old blogs when checking your receipt.
Good to know
- The donate button is the traveler’s exit move: last-day empties become a two-second charity donation instead of a voucher you can’t spend — the same trick works for the coins no exchange desk wants (see cash in Sweden).
- Kids adore the machine. Pant duty is the traditional first paid job of every Swedish child; assign it to yours and buy yourself ten quiet minutes.
- Cabin math: a week’s family empties are easily 50–150 kr — run the bag through the machine before the final grocery shop and watch the bill shrink.
- August note: rinse and knot the bag; wasps are the pant system’s most loyal fans.
- Self-checkout kiosks occasionally refuse pant vouchers — a staffed till always takes them (how self-checkout works).
Practical information
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Deposit (new marks, since Sept 2025) | 2 kr cans & small PET · 3 kr large PET |
| Old-marked containers | Pay out their printed amount (1 or 2 kr); accepted until 31 Dec 2028 |
| Machines | Every supermarket entrance, all chains, free to use |
| Refund forms | Store voucher (same-store checkout) or charity donation |
| Foreign cans | Not refundable in Sweden — each country redeems its own marks |
FAQ
What is pant in Sweden?
Pant is the refundable deposit built into the price of nearly every canned or PET-bottled drink sold in Sweden — 2 kr on cans and small bottles, 3 kr on large bottles under the marks introduced in September 2025. Return the empty container to a reverse-vending machine at any supermarket and the deposit comes back as a checkout voucher or a charity donation.
How much is the deposit on cans and bottles?
Since September 1, 2025: 2 kr for cans and PET bottles under one liter, 3 kr for PET bottles of a liter or more. Containers printed with the older marks still circulate during a transition and pay out their printed amount — 1 or 2 kr — because the machine always honors the mark on the container, not the current rate.
Where do I return bottles and cans in Sweden?
At the pantautomat — the reverse-vending machines standing at the entrance of practically every supermarket, regardless of chain and regardless of where in Sweden you bought the drinks. No purchase is required. Feed containers one by one, then choose a printed voucher (redeem at that store’s checkout) or press the donate button.
Why won’t the machine take my cans from Germany?
Because they’re not in the Swedish system: pant is paid and refunded per country, and the machines read the Swedish pant mark and barcode. A can bought in Germany carries Germany’s Pfand, redeemable only there. Same brand, same can size — different deposit system. Recycle foreign cans in ordinary metal recycling instead.
Can I return crushed cans?
Generally no — the machines identify containers by barcode and shape, and flattened cans get rejected. Keep empties intact and uncrushed (a quick rinse helps too). If something got crushed accidentally, customer service can occasionally process a readable one manually, but don’t build your refund plan on it.
What happens to the pant money if I don’t return the containers?
It stays in the system — which is exactly what you’re donating every time you bin a can. For a visitor’s last day, the machine’s donate button is the elegant solution: feed the trip’s final empties and give the total to charity in two seconds, no voucher to spend.
Related guides
- Recycling in Sweden: sorting your trash as a visitor — where the glass and everything else goes
- Self-checkout and self-scanning — redeeming the voucher
- Swedish supermarkets explained — the machines’ habitat
- Can you pay with cash in Sweden? — the other last-day money question
Facts verified 2026-07-25. Sources: Returpack/Pantamera (the system operator), including the September 2025 deposit change — full register in this topic’s source file. This page is on a 6-month review cycle through the deposit transition. Found something outdated? Tell us and we’ll fix it.