Plastic Bottle Levy

Drax

In the same way that the plastic bag levy did wonders in reducing (maybe not now to the same extent), would a plastic bottle levy do the same? I was recently involved in cleaning up our estate and plastic bottles made up a huge percentage of the rubbish collected.

In some countries in Europe, plastic bottles can be brought back to the supermarket where you get a small refund. These bottles seem to made of stronger plastic that what we get here so they only need to be washed and relabelled to be reused. Why can't we introdice that here? As far as I am aware, this only applies to the larger >1.5L bottles. Not the smaller ones, but yet I have never seen the same amount of bottle rubbush as we get here.

What about banning the smaller plastic bottles altogether? Bringing back glass bottles. I suppose you could argue that there would be a lot of broken glass around. Any opinions?

robtri

Drax wrote: »

In the same way that the plastic bag levy did wonders in reducing (maybe not now to the same extent), would a plastic bottle levy do the same? I was recently involved in cleaning up our estate and plastic bottles made up a huge percentage of the rubbish collected.

In some countries in Europe, plastic bottles can be brought back to the supermarket where you get a small refund. These bottles seem to made of stronger plastic that what we get here so they only need to be washed and relabelled to be reused. Why can't we introdice that here? As far as I am aware, this only applies to the larger >1.5L bottles. Not the smaller ones, but yet I have never seen the same amount of bottle rubbush as we get here.

What about banning the smaller plastic bottles altogether? Bringing back glass bottles. I suppose you could argue that there would be a lot of broken glass around. Any opinions?

I would be in favour of glass bottles.... I liked the better taste of drinks from a glass bottle....

hoser expat

In North America, all plastic bottles and cans have a 5 or 10 cent charge when you purchase, and then you collect them all up, take them back to the store and get your money back. It works amazingly well, and have no idea why its not done in Ireland or UK.

So why doesn't household recycling in Ireland take glass? It's just a pain to haul it down to the bottle bank each week.

gagalina

Drax wrote: »

As far as I am aware, this only applies to the larger >1.5L bottles.

It applies to 500ml bottles also - the plastic is a lot stronger and actually they can be re-used a lot more often than glass bottles.
When they have reached their end-of-life, they get melted and new plastic bottles are created.

Gagalina

Alun

hoser expat wrote: »

In North America, all plastic bottles and cans have a 5 or 10 cent charge when you purchase, and then you collect them all up, take them back to the store and get your money back. It works amazingly well, and have no idea why its not done in Ireland or UK.

Not for plastic or cans (they didn't really exist back then) but when I was a kid in the early 70's in England, pop bottles all had a deposit on them. Didn't stop people throwing them away (in bins mostly) so a favourite lunchtime pastime of ours was to wander around the park just down the road from our school collecting up enough empty pop bottles to buy a bottle of pop with

In many European countries there's a deposit on glass and large plastic bottles. It was pioneered in Scandinavia AFAIK, where coincidentally the machines are made that the supermarkets use to take the bottles and/or crates back and issue a ticket that you can then hand in to the till when you pay for your shopping to get the refund. They're fully automatic, and can recognise all the different bottles.

So why doesn't household recycling in Ireland take glass? It's just a pain to haul it down to the bottle bank each week.

Some do, like ours (Greenstar in Bray).

DonkeyStyle \o/

Drax wrote: »

I suppose you could argue that there would be a lot of broken glass around.

I like to think of the footpath outside my house as part of 'the environment'.
Maybe we can get a levy put on dog food. :pac:

Poochie05

hoser expat wrote: »

In North America, all plastic bottles and cans have a 5 or 10 cent charge when you purchase, and then you collect them all up, take them back to the store and get your money back. It works amazingly well, and have no idea why its not done in Ireland or UK.

Different countries have different schemes. Ireland's policy makers chose to go down the route of a compliance scheme (Repak) instead of a deposit and return scheme. Introducing a deposit scheme would mean dismanteling this existing scheme. Personally I would love to see this as I think joining Repak absolves producers of their obligation to reduce the amount of packaging they put on goods. If they had to actually deal with the material in a take back scheme instead of paying money to have it all taken care of they would soon be exploring ways of reducing the stuff. But the cynic in me thinks that this would never happen as it would involve a major re-haul of the existing policy.

So why doesn't household recycling in Ireland take glass? It's just a pain to haul it down to the bottle bank each week.

Because it poses a health and safety risk to the operatives who have to collect and process our recyclables. In the cases where it is accepted, they probably have mechanised processing.

Macha

Poochie05 - totally agree. Repak absolves supermarkets etc of all obligation and severely limits the ability of consumers to put pressure on supermarkets to reduce/improve packaging or its recyclability.

The concept being discussed at the moment is generally referred to as RVM or reverse vending machines. They have the scheme set up in Norway (where it's called pant - I don't know why..) and it's incredibly successful. I asked a spokesperson for Repak why this RVM system wasn't introduced in Ireland and he basically said that it mustn't be economically viable if someone hadn't already introduced it - he was a total moron.

Cabaal

Its certainly an interesting idea alright, sure put a leavy on plastic and glass bottles which when returned you can get back perhaps 5-10c, its not alot BUT its enough for some people to start bringing things back

and

It also has the benefit of perhaps kids collecting them so they can get free money

amacachi

I'm all for putting a refundable 5cent on a plastic bottle, can't see how it wouldn't be "economically viable" either. :rolleyes: Suppose the government might be worried that such a simple scheme wouldn't create enough consultancy roles for their mates.

Alun

taconnol wrote: »

They have the scheme set up in Norway (where it's called pant - I don't know why..) and it's incredibly successful.

Because "pant" is Norwegian for that kind of deposit, that's why (like Pfand in German) It's not just in Norway, it's in place all over Scandinavia, Germany and the Netherlands at least to my knowledge.

Like I said, there always used to be a system in place (albeit very manual) in the UK many years ago, but it was abandoned. All that's happened in these countries where it's still used, is that it's become automated and more efficient. It's always easier (although probably not actually cheaper) to incrementally change and improve an already existing system like this over the years than to try and re-introduce something from "scratch" again when you've let it go.

Run_to_da_hills

We already pay a tax for disposing of them at recycling centers, why even mention an extra one. :mad:

Cookie_Monster

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

We already pay a tax for disposing of them at recycling centers, why even mention an extra one. :mad:

Or you can just put them in your green bin for free. or even the local supermarket/club/beach carpark generally has free glass recycling:eek:

There are at least 10-15 bottle banks in my local area that are free

Run_to_da_hills

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Or you can just put them in your green bin for free. or even the local supermarket/club/beach carpark generally has free glass recycling:eek:

There are at least 10-15 bottle banks in my local area that are free

These CC recycle centers don't make any sense, If they are charging for them and people have the alternative to dispose of glass etc at various supermarket drop off's why have them?

Cookie_Monster

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

These CC recycle centers don't make any sense, If they are charging for them and people have the alternative to dispose of glass etc at various supermarket drop off's why have them?

I suppose because they are a one stop shop for paper, plastic, glass, cans, styrofoam etc etc.


I think a deposit on plastic bottles, rather than just a tax, would be a good idea. The whole Repak system needs to be changed as it doesn't really work to reduce packaging and promote responsibility

turgon

I had a can of German beer the other day, and it said on the can "return for 5c refund" so its in Europe too, although this incentive is targeted more at litter prevention than recycling, obviously.