Deposit return scheme (recycling)

odyssey06

I am hoping charities \ schools might run collections, claim the deposit as funding.

Was that a thing when there were deposits on glass bottles... maybe scouts involved?

creedp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121462221#Comment_121462221

I wonder would that reduce the almost weekly demands for voluntary payments for everyrhimg short of the air the kids breathe....somehow I doubt it

jacool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121461509#Comment_121461509

You should contact the people you order online from and ask them if they will be offering you the "return of deposit" as part of their business.

By the way "I have never heard of anything so f*cking ridiculous before in my life."

You must be really, really rural so, and not have a TV.

Rigor Mortis

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121462221#Comment_121462221

That is likely to be a big part of the push in the coming months. GAA clubs, Tidy Towns, Schools etc. Ultimately, the RVMs are likely to have an option to donate cash to charities.

Buffman

Posted in another forum about this but probably suits here better:

Definitely not a bargain alert any more. All this is going to cost companies a lot of money and all that will get passed on to us, the customer.

My local Lidl and many more I've seen have had the builders in for the last few months retrofitting for this scheme. In our case the trolley bay has been converted to 'inside' the building for a room for it and the whole shop entrance redone. That ain't cheap.

A recent news story quotes Tesco as spending €200,000 for a machine in ONE store, multiply that across all the shops.

Suppliers and shops now have massive new amounts of admin because the deposits have to be invoiced and paid separately to the goods.

All in all it's going to be millions that will be passed back onto the customers through higher prices.

And those of us who actually do use the green bin correctly will be further penalised as it's an almost certainty that waste collectors will up their recycling bin prices to compensate for the loss of aluminum can sales to them, one of the few items which was of value to them.

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2023/1204/1420044-deposit-return-scheme/

"It’s quite a bigger plan than we had anticipated," said Darrin Honer, country operations manager at Tesco Ireland. "Every single store in the country has to be retrofitted, to fit in the machine. This investment for this particular store is over €200,000," he said. "To multiply that out, it’s quite a huge investment."

'The country’s drinks producers also need to sign up to the scheme - and track every single can or plastic bottle they ship.

That’s resulting in a significant amount of new administration - especially for smaller producers.

"We have to split into invoices, we have to put the deposits on the invoices separately from the cans, we have to make a return to the scheme operators in terms of how many cans have gone out," said David Walsh-Kemmis, founder and managing director at Ballykilcavan Brewing Company in Co Laois.

"I have to say we’re in favour of the scheme - we want to see as much aluminium being recycled as possible - but for a small brewery for us it really does create a significant administrative and cashflow problem."'

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121461509#Comment_121461509

You are literally years too late. Consultation period was years ago.

This isn't being stopped and no opt outs are going to happen.

Waste your time if you want but that is what every politician will tell you too, unless they think lying to you and doing nothing is a better option

AllForIt

I was going to rant about this thinking all my plastics have to be recycled this way but I've since learned it won't affect me as I never buy canned or bottled drinks, other than milk which is exempt. The last time I recall I did was during the heatwave in June when I bought a few bottles of water only cuz I'd run out of what I'd taken with me from home. Phew.

I can't believe there is not a more simple way to achieve the aim. What is the cost to the environment of making and maintaining these machines? They take up an awful lot of space too which I'm sure the supermarkets would rather use for something else.

There seems to be a phycological conditioning element to this scheme which I find a bit disturbing. Like the hassle you have to go through is intentional.

MoonMotorway

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121462422#Comment_121462422

Will bottles of water be exempt?

MoonMotorway

Why on earth would they introduce a new system where you are charged at the till for recycling so that it encourages you to take your trash back and travel to a recycling machine, when for the majority of people we had a perfectly fine functioning system with the recycling bins located on your property to be picked up once every 2 weeks or so.

I mean like there is recycling outside my door in my yard and all this does is penalise people like me at who do recycle already at the till. Also many people have time pressures with work and commuting and now they have to think about another chore of gathering trash before they leave the house to go to a shop.

AllForIt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121462441#Comment_121462441

Erm no I don't think so. I was just sayin personally that's all I'd have to go to the bother of returning.

Atlantic Dawn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121462441#Comment_121462441

Anything over 3 litres is, everything below is charged the fee.

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121461573#Comment_121461573

It would be better if rubbish collection was built into taxes so people wouldn't have any reason to drive out with bin bags and dump them on the side of the road somewhere.

This is a great example of something that appears perfectly logical, but doesn't actually work in practice. I'm not sure if you're old enough to remember when refuse collection was handled by local authorities and indeed paid for by general taxation - and the levels of illegal dumping around the country were orders of magnitude worse than they are now.

MoonMotorway

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121462321#Comment_121462321

Who is responsible for this mess of a scheme?

MoonMotorway

When the recycling machines are emptied where does the recycling stuff goes to? Does it go to the very same place where your recycling bins go to?

Buffman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121462500#Comment_121462500

The same people who come up with every other scheme that costs us more money, the Government.

Here's one of the better synopses I've seen of it:

https://www.mccannfitzgerald.com/knowledge/agri-food-and-drinks/coming-soon-irelands-new-deposit-return-scheme

"How will the Scheme work?

Under the Scheme, producers of in-scope products will be required to pay Re-turn a ‘producer fee’ which is intended to cover:

1. the costs of collecting and recycling in-scope products;
2. the costs of data gathering and reporting in relation to the Scheme;
3. the cost of business and consumer awareness raising measures in relation to the Scheme; and
4. Re-turn’s administration costs.

Retailers are required to pay a ‘deposit fee’ to producers when they purchase in-scope products.

When a consumer purchases an in-scope product, they will be charged the ‘deposit fee’ in addition to the price of the product. Consumers may return empty, undamaged in-scope products to a retailer in order to receive a full refund of the consumer’s deposit fee."

So basically us the customers will end up paying more for all of that.

creedp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121462466#Comment_121462466

Absolutely agree but as always the silent compliant majority will be penalised for the sins of the few.

I wonder if this is the end of it or if successdul will they look at massively increasing the WEEE levy on electrical goods. Serious money to be made there. If you can levy 25cent on a €1 bottle of water, imagine what you could levy on a €1k TV. I mean whats the problem, sure it will be refunded once you bring it back for recycling every couple of years when latest gadgetry becomes too difficult to resist.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121462547#Comment_121462547

The WEEE levy can only be used to process WEEE and as such was significantly cut a few years in as there was too much money being collected. Also, it's not refunded - I'm not sure you quite understand that scheme.

This scheme will not make money for the state. That is not the intent

feelings

I can see this failing miserably. Was this another green party initiative ??

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121462560#Comment_121462560

It works in every other country / US state that has one just fine.

This is not a new or rare idea. It will be required in the entire EU in time

It's actually an ancient idea - there were deposits on bottles when your grandparents or possibly parents were kids.

sligeach

This is going to be a pain in the h01€ and it's going to cost consumers money. If you're out and about, buy a bottle of water for example in a newsagents, finish it, instead of binning it, I've to hold onto it to get my money back, when I go to a shop that has a recycling machine during business hours to get the extra tax back. What about people that get home deliveries, have impairments, don't drive, etc?

Also, I crush my bottles and cans to save on space. They can't be used in these recycling machines. The bottles and cans have to be undamaged. Why, when the machine is going to crush them?

Or here's another example, if you buy people alcohol as a gift, you're paying extra at the till, and they get will get the money back if they return the empty cans. Or if you go to a house party, are you supposed to carry your empties home at the end of the night?

What about the 24 pack slabs of 330ml minerals, I see some supermarkets doing specials, selling them for €10 at the moment, are they now going to be €13.60? That's more than a 33% increase in price. More cost of living pressures. People have green bins at home that currently take cans and bottles, but no, you need to drive to a recycling machine, with your segregated bottles and cans. Ya, that's real good for the environment with the extra carbon emissions. From the can and bottle labels, people driving to the recycling machines, the electricity used by the machines, the extra bin collections.

It's not "Convenient for Everyone".

MoonMotorway

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121462547#Comment_121462547

I rarely get angry about things but this is unreal and it seems to be poorly thought out. I have a recycling option outside my door in my yard and now I will be charged extra on my shopping if I buy bottles or cans and it creates a burden to return to the shop with my recycling trash.

It's not as simple as getting into a car or storing bags if recycling in a boot if you don't own a car or don't drive. It penalises people who can't make it back to a recycling center who already recycling from the comfort of homes.

MoonMotorway

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121462547#Comment_121462547

You're right, where does it stop? They could start chatting hundreds in appliances returnable when you recycle them.

MoonMotorway

When the recycling machines are emptied where does the recyclables go to?

Will it be taken to the same place your recycling bin goes to?

If that's the case what is the point of this scheme? If the recycling end stuff all end up in the same place It just creates a burden for many people who already recycle using their bins?

timmyntc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121462590#Comment_121462590

I imagine the goal was to incentivise people to collect rubbish and return for money.

Which fails totally because of the requirement that goods are intact and barcodes are machine readable. Such a disappointment compared to what could be possible.

ArmaniJeanss

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121462590#Comment_121462590

You keep saying some variety of 'because you recycle, then what is the point of creating this burden?'

The point is that not everyone does recycle. This is hoped to get recycling rates up.

Maybe in future there won't be 50 empty beer cans outside the playground in my local park every Saturday morning, the bin outside my local Spar won't be overflowing with Cola bottles, no almost-but-not-quite-empty cans will be left to leak onto bus/train seats, good citizens down on their luck will pick stray bottles and cans up off our urban streets like we see in cities abroad etc etc.

I do sympathise that a good recycler like yourself gets punished here, but there is a wider picture.

rob316

I said on another thread, you'll get so annoyed with the whole system you will just stop using plastic bottles. That's the only benefit I see.

MoonMotorway

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121462570#Comment_121462570

The day our grandparents paid deposits on bottles are long over and linely before the majority of people pay and use a waste collection service that includes recycling.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121462698#Comment_121462698

The days are coming back in February and the rest is irrelevant.

There was a consultation period on this years ago. That was the time to complain

MoonMotorway

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121462665#Comment_121462665

As in clean up beaches and parks from littering?

Littering is dispicable but this isn't the answer.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121462708#Comment_121462708

It is part of the answer and works very effectively in the large number of places that already do it