Lidl: 10c for used bottles and cans [Expired]

I would rather walk on a beach covered in empty cans than broken beer bottles. Young lads out drinking are not going to want to lug empty cans home, and keep them perfectly intact, with MUP cheap beer will be the same price in glass bottles and cans, and so it seems obvious to be that they will switch to glass bottles, they might not even have enough pocket money to cover the deposit when buying.

This document is very good https://data.oireachtas.ie/ie/oireachtas/committee/dail/32/joint_committee_on_communications_climate_action_and_environment/submissions/2018/2018-01-17_discussion-paper-ibec_en.pdf

Unintended consequences for consumers

Another possible unintended consequence of a deposit return scheme would be the ending of the free kerbside recycling bin for householders or imposition of new charges for its collection. Removing easily recycled (and valuable) packaging materials like aluminium and plastic bottles (PET) from our green bins, would dramatically increase processing costs. If the more valuable materials such as aluminium cans and plastic bottles are removed from our recycling bins and brought into a separate deposit and return system, the costs to the waste collectors will inevitably increase. This will have an impact on the costs of treating material from the recycling bin. Packaging producers in a separate deposit return scheme will no longer pay into the central Extended Producer Responsibility scheme at the existing levels. This would reduce the money available to support collecting the recycling bin. It would thereby bring into question the viability of a free collection, sorting and treated for recovery and recycling of the kerbside recycling bin

Fraud

A deposit return scheme would potentially pay out more than it takes in, because packaging from Northern Ireland will enter the system unless there is country-specific labelling on every container. With 231 entry points between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and the free movement of people, it seems highly likely that substantial returns would be given to consumers who have not paid a deposit. Deposit return fraud could undermine the economic viability of any deposit return Scheme in the Republic of Ireland, while also reducing substantially the funding supporting collection, sorting and treatment for recycling and recovery. 

In other countries where it runs successfully do people leave tonnes of rubbish beside full bins? I've seen people looking through bins in other countries to find returns they always leave the place tidy, Irish people can't even leave the bin areas tidy before people start rummaging in them for the valuable bits and they won't clean up after themselves here if they do find returns.

How can it have a similar impact as the plastic bag levy when it'll increase the cost of recycling? When the valuable products are removed from the recycling stream the cost of collection is going to shoot up. This could lead to even more rubbish as people will just dump their recycling waste now, people dump electrical items and they've already paid for it's collect through WEEE.

It's not as if you are getting anything in return for bringing the can/bottle back as you've already paid the money when you bought it.

Never seen this is any other Lidl - it should be widespread tbh.

Which is the crux of the stupidity of it. Currently they are collected at your house, and that’s for a paid service. The scheme is a bit nonsensical at the moment.

Glass isn't, in most areas (and those that have it will continue for jars). You will still be able to put cans in the recycling bin if you wish, but you won't get the deposit back.

The point is that absolutely vast quantities of these don't make it to recycling bins. That'll change, albeit some of it may be due to people picking through bins and making more of a mess in doing so, looking for them - I have seen this happen to apartment bins in Oregon.

If this was brought in before we had already had green bins for household mixed recyclables and a fleet of a thousand or so vehicles around the country that carry the mixed recyclables which subsidises the cost of household waste collection it would be a great idea, now it's a complete and utter joke destroying a successful system already in place. Having to bring the plastic bottles and cans in a non-crushed condition will also require households to devot additional space in their homes to store it all prior to then bringing them to the recycling machine.

Yes but it's long gone, 30 plus years gap that systems are now in place to handle.

Who will pay for the redundancy payments to existing staff working for recycling companies?

The scheme is identical to those in operation in half of Europe already. It works there

The machines are reliable and I've never seen anyone queue for them in countries where I've used them (Denmark, Oregon in the US).

The bin companies made their moans during the consultation process. If they start hitting the wall I'd be in favour of the entire sector being nationalised and reduce the pointless duplication of four complete sets of bin lorries (in my area - two or three would be common in all urban areas) driving around estates burning diesel in the hope that one of their customers has left a bin out. Privatising a natural monopoly was an exceptionally stupid idea.

late, only just noticed this scheme.

Think this scheme has a lot of flaws in it.

It seems to me that you will only be given a 'daily' voucher of €2. otherwise I will be in there once a month with all my bottles and cans like I do at the moment when I go to local Tip.

So if it is only a €2 limit nobody will 'practically speaking ' be able to bring all the bots and cans back and the government is charging 20cents extra per bot and can. this is an insane price hike. when you bring the bot back for 10c they still make 10cents out of it. and when you cant bring all of them back (because its not practical) they will make 20cents on all those items too.

This scheme is simply going to cost me more money, Or have I got it all wrong?

You have it wrong.

Whenever you get information from an unreliable source, it is nearly always wrong.

There will be no limit on the number you return. You will have a choice of donation to charity, store voucher or a cash coupon that is cashed by the store. Choice is entirely yours.

All plastic bottles and cans that have a deposit charged will have a special barcode/qr code added and will have the ReTurn symbol printed.

It is not rocket science. It operates in dozens of countries and Ireland are not re-inventing or or doing anything different (thankfully). It works perfectly well everywhere it operates.

84% of glass is already recycled. Not sure this is actually needed

Strange you should make that point because before we had the pirate, I mean private, bin companies the councils did lift the bins and did a pretty good job at it so I'm not sure your point is relevant

I may have the finer details wrong in my earlier post.

So lets see if I've got the following wrong also.

Currently I take all my waste to the local tip once a month. It works fine for me. 90% of my neighbours use a waste collection company so they'r sorted too.

So who is left to use this new scheme? Or are you saying that my neighbours and I will start bringing all these recyclables back to the shops. If so can you imagine the queue out the door of people waiting with bags of recycling. It doesn't seem practical to me and I doubt it will happen. Net result is it will just be a huge price hike to our weekly shopping.

Have I got this appraisal wrong also.

Sounds about right to me we do the same and our recycling is meticulously sorted out. I just told my wife about Aldi's similar system that they are rolling out (they are fitting one out in Dungarvan atm) and she madly recycles everything. Her reply was why bother?

It looks to me from what I can see being set up in Aldi's carpark in Dungarvan that the recycling will hardly cover the energy used to set up. So to recycle aluminum cans we have to have computers and compactors?

I agree in principle with recycling but this is a ridiculous willy waving exercise in look at how green we are one up man ship.

Your wife is right.

For a current 100% recycler like her this new system offers only inconvenience.

Instead of putting it all in the recycling bin she will be queuing up in the cold and rain to get her deposit back.

The upside is that it should reduce littering because if people dump cans or bottles someone else will pick up and return them.