Deposit return scheme (recycling) - Part 2

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123953640#Comment_123953640

If they have figured out how to open the doors on public refuse bins, wont be long now before they start dropping the cans and bottles into the machine, and going into the shop with the receipt in their beaks in exhange for breakfast from the deli counter.

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123949668#Comment_123949668

Historic day for Cavan. Citizens have declared a week of celebrations to commemorate. Its an annual event.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123953702#Comment_123953702

If the seagulls dont it's because they dont like money same as the rest of us. CEO Foley said it on Newstalk. He knows every seagull personally.

Jb1989

Stupid yolk won't work near me, says put in too fast, every other time I go to it it's full. Christ their a nuisance. I'll just drive around for the next few days with the van full of bottles till I'm passing another shop. Rant over

patnor1011

Its not a rant. Every person I met at those machines is literally fed up with this idiotic nonsense which was created to enrich selected few.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123979084#Comment_123979084

I was with my sister a few weeks ago and she wanted to put some bottles in the machine, and there was a queue. After a couple of minutes she says to me, would I mind taking the bag because she was going to be late for work. The fella in front of me had about 3 bags of bottles so it was going to be a while, she only had about half a dozen cans. Once she left, I said to the fella in front of me, here, take my bag. My time is more precious than standing there for the 90 cent reward. I

bluedex

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123979084#Comment_123979084

It's an absolute nuisance, to put it mildly. Everybody hates it, except a few headbangers who think it's a better solution than putting your recyclables into a green bin outside your door, to be collected by firms that are collecting those same bins every week or two anyway. There's almost universal derision to it's introduction.

Think about it for a minute, It's absolute madness.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123982537#Comment_123982537

This morning I threw a paper bag filled with crushed cans into the communal Green bin outside. A neighbour who Ive never interacted with before starts giving out to me. They seemed to be under the impression that putting cans into the green bin would mean they wont get recycled.

Honestly, I despair at people.

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123982576#Comment_123982576

Next time you see them at the bins throw your cans in the communal black bin in front of them.

Banzai600

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123982537#Comment_123982537

you're bang on.

we reclaim ourselves, but we're recycling as much as we can, brown bin etc. Our black bin probably every 6 weeks for 2 of us.

its typical irish government type attitude, lets hammer everyone for the short comings of the very few. asking ppl to recycle is not a big deal, i dont understand why ppl wouldnt do it , from the convenience of their homes. but then ive heard of a couple of apartment complex areas where dumping is an issue, yet they have underground bins - wtf ?

one this is abundantly clear, this island is awash with ppl who will still throw their cans / bottles etc in the black bin or wont recycle enough. but thats on them. The irish answer - lets bring in another financial penalty to make them fall in line.

in saying that, they probably gambled on ppl being lazy so they could make a fortune to funnel money off into oblivion like they always do, and they are winning - which was a headline a few weeks ago - 60 million or more unclaimed !? like i said, gamble on the lazy, you win.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123982596#Comment_123982596

Ive been living here for 18 months and that was my first time seeing them, so hopefully I dont encounter them again, but yeah I would do that if I saw them.

Pauliedragon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123982576#Comment_123982576

A neighbour of mine thinks you get fined for putting cans into the green bin. Legally they have to be taken to the DRS machine she's convinced.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123983278#Comment_123983278

Either we have the same neighbour or there is more than one monumentally stupid person out there. I think the latter is more likely.

dxhound2005

I came across this in Co Armagh when out cycling this morning. I never saw a sign like that at any of the diesel sludge dump sites.

dxhound2005

Plastic waste on the Northern Ireland coast is reducing. No doubt in part due to fewer PET bottles going into the sea in the South. Good to see that the UK is adopting a Polluter Pays system similar to the EU. And they will eventually get a DRS scheme.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93d290j808o

Coca Cola in the North are producing PET bottles from 100% recycled material. This process is helped greatly by getting clean PET from DRS schemes. Separating the PET in domestic bins and decontaminating it is much more time consuming and expensive.

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2025/1110/1543100-coca-cola-hbc-to-expand-lisburn-plant-in-31m-investment/

In news from the South (03 Nov), Westmeath is the latest county to introduce bin surrounds.

LambshankRedemption

In news from the South (03 Nov), Westmeath is the latest county to introduce bin surrounds.

Ive not seen any yet.

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123983569#Comment_123983569

You should be shot for the stuff you dump in this thread.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123983618#Comment_123983618

Plastic waste on the Northern Ireland coast is reducing. No doubt in part due to fewer PET bottles going into the sea in the South.

🤣🤣🤣

geographica

this is news to me, Lidl Wexford, one can take their bottles and cans to the till when the machine isn’t working?? And the checkout person scans them or something? Never seen anyone do this

George White

Only some people will do it, in Lidl, it seems, from my experience.

geographica

I can’t imagine the checkout person be too happy getting sprayed with remains of coke and beer cans, thd the till area getting filthy 😬😬

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123987189#Comment_123987189

It's an unusual one all right.

I don't know what they'd scan them with, maybe just count them manually tot up and deduct from bill

I can't see it being practical for large numbers of containers.

Also possible hygiene issues.

jj880

Re-Turn supporters would rather hygiene / extra work issues with manual returns are not mentioned.

Some previous reply highlights from this thread:

- customers are smelly anyway so its fine

- it doesnt create extra work for shop employees

- it doesnt take any extra time to do a manual return

randomcorkman

I recycle slightly less than before the scheme. Anything that gets rejected gets binned outside Lidl.

odyssey06

Manual returns are processed in many other countries, and are a feature of the scheme here eg Mr Price were doing them.

And shops having to take back returns manually when the machine is out of order is a great incentive for them to keep it working & avoid a scenario where a customer arrives on foot with a bag of cans etc and ends up dumping them in litter bin.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123987323#Comment_123987323

I try them twice and then hold onto them to try in another machine.

To date I haven't had to give up on a single container that I bought and paid a deposit on.

Having said that I have had total failure with some cans I got doing litter picks. They were mostly Coke cans. I suspect they came from fast food places.

randomcorkman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123987406#Comment_123987406

I think my rejected ones are mostly the same. It's a bit daft though that I'm having to go to these machines instead of my own recycling bin outside my door, only to end up recycling less than before.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123987426#Comment_123987426

Are you paying a deposit on the rejected ones ?

If so you should take it up with the shop who changed you the deposit or alternatively just stop buying from them.

If you didn't pay a deposit you can just put them in your recycling bin.

Quackster

Bulk RVM in the new Lidl store in Killorglin.

odyssey06

I'll believe it when works starts on it…

RE-TURN, THE OPERATOR of the country’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), is planning to build a multimillion-euro recycling facility for plastics, which it hopes will be operational by the end of next year…
Re-turn intends to use some of the funds accumulated from unreclaimed deposits and producer fees to develop the new facility. The company had a cash balance of €89.8 million at the end of last year, having retained €66.7 million in unclaimed deposits. As many as seven prospective contractors have expressed an interest in building the recycling facility, and it is understood that a tendering process for the operation of the plant is also underway.

https://www.thejournal.ie/recycling-ireland-3-6894469-Dec2025/

littlevillage

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124045236#Comment_124045236

Soo less than 30% of stuff is recycled. I wonder what the percentage was before this state sponsored shake down called 're-turn'

dxhound2005

The Journal article today says this:

“As a result of the increase in the national recycling rate for drinks containers from 49% to 91% since the scheme’s introduction, Ireland is now recycling the consistent level of food-grade PET plastic needed to make the country’s first PET bottle-to-bottle recycling facility viable.” The meeting between Mr Foley and Mr O’Brien took place at the end of May in Malahide. The Re-turn CEO told the minister that “seven businesses” were bidding to build the facility at that point."

https://www.thejournal.ie/recycling-ireland-3-6894469-Dec2025/

But another Journal article from the end of May says this:

"THE COMPANY OVERSEEING Ireland’s Deposit Return Scheme has defended itself following criticism made in the Dáil claiming that almost 90% of the plastic that is collected is being “needlessly” shipped around the world rather than recycled domestically. Scheme operator Re-Turn said the vast majority of the plastic currently has to be transported abroad because it has not been financially viable to recycle plastic bottles into new drink containers in Ireland. A spokesperson for the company said that Ireland “does not have the facilities to fully recycle” plastic bottles and aluminium cans that are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) material into new, ‘food-safe’ drink containers."

https://www.thejournal.ie/deposit-return-scheme-shipped-abroad-6713216-May2025/

Something not adding up there, but it was always the intention of Re-Turn to get new bottles made in Ireland. It is certainly progress from what obtained for decades before Re-Turn. Contaminated PET from green bins had to be separated and processed before being sent abroad to be made into new bottles.

No word about the aluminium.