The concept of a voluntaiy deposit system is developed and modeled in this paper in comparison to the current state of a voluntary non-deposit (R 1) and mandatory refund-deposit (R2) hybrid system in the U.S. The R3 model is found to be optimal in comparison through an increase in the recycling rate, a reduction in operating costs, and the creation of a larger surplus to be used to pay for an IT-based tracking system and research grants to enable future innovations in the collection and processing of recyclables. In the R3 model, consumers are only burdened if they choose to not recycle, or they wish to have the convenience of curbside pick-up. Copyright