Deposit–Refund System as a Strategy to Drive Sustainable Energy Transition on the Example of Poland

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The researches related to the energy-sustainable collection logistics have a particular importance. Therefore, the relevance of the paper could be even greater since it investigates the case of an emerging economy – Poland.

The purpose is clearly pointed out both in the abstract and in the introductory part.

The authors have succeeded to clearly present the topic and its importance, by highlighting their contribution on the field.

The literature review part is comprehensive and it points out aspects related to a successful implementation of a deposit-refund system. The authors referred to the literature focused both on the case of Poland and on the other European states. Yet, based on the literature review, the authors should state the hypotheses of their research, in order to motivate the choice of the methodology and to inform the readers what to expect in the results section. Without hypotheses, the results section becomes a "laundry list" of results from several tables. 

The discussion part is presented in a much summarized manner. The authors should explain more their findings, by making reference to the results of other studies. In the results part, they should also mention if their research hypotheses have been validated or not.

The conclusions should also be more developed, by detailing the implications of the findings, even though they mention that their study is only “a starting point for further research into the creation of a system that is not yet in place in Poland”.  

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

we are sendung in attachment our response to your comments.

Thank you for reviewing our article. 

Best regards, 

Małgorzata Grzelak

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear Authors,

 

Thank you for the opportunity to read an interesting article on an important topic. The article focuses on circular economy, specifically the design of a deposit-refund system in Poland.

 

The main contribution is based on connection of environmental and logistical aspects, with an emphasis on minimizing energy costs. The proposed model is based on the Centroid method and includes optimizing the location of logistics facilities (measurement centers) concerning the intensity of material flows and the location of collection points.

 

Before publication, I suggest addressing the following issues and comments:

 

1. The article presents an initial model without detailed consideration of seasonal effects, market dynamics, or changes in consumer preferences.
2. The article focuses on the centroid method and uses only two metrics (Euclidean and rectangular). It recommends considering network models, which better account for real transport routes.
3. The rectangular (Manhattan) metric is suitable if the transport network follows a grid layout (e.g., in cities with a regular raster street layout). However, this is unlikely in older cities in Poland.
4. The Euclidean metric assumes unrestricted movement in space without route constraints. This is unrealistic, as natural barriers such as rivers and road nodes exist. How were these limitations addressed when applying the two methods?
5. Why was a comparison with the network metric not performed? The network metric better reflects transport routes and considers real transport infrastructures like roads and railways.
6. From a formal perspective, the formulas on lines 368 and 369 use a comma as the decimal separator. But lines 421 and 413 use a period as the decimal separator. Furthermore, formulas (5) and (6) use dotted multiplication, which is inconsistent in formatting.

 

The article offers theoretical section that is well processed, but practical application and validation of the model are currently missing.

 

 

I recommend accepting the article conditionally – with suggested revisions focusing on model validation and the inclusion of additional variables in the analysis.

 

 

Best wishes,

review

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

we are sendung in attachment our response to your comments.

Thank you for reviewing our article. 

Best regards, 

Małgorzata Grzelak

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf