Deposit return scheme (recycling)

You're an exception to the norm though. You have a large supply of recyclables from your place of work and you're making some money from the scheme. And why not. A 200 euro voucher from 1 trip to an RVM is not to be sniffed at.

The rest of us are expected store containers in our homes over a period of time, take them to an RVM in the hope its not out of order (if so find another RVM or take everything home again or go in store for manual returns), hope it actually accepts the containers (if not take everything home again or go in store for manual returns to some poor staff member who also hates the extra work associated with Re-Turn), hope it doesnt malfunction half way through depositing (no voucher printed, lose deposits, find another RVM, go in store for manual returns or lets be honest just toss everything in the nearest public bin or put it in your recycle bin at home as you're completely p!ssed off). If you do manage to get a voucher you could end up queuing up at a customer service till for God knows how long or be told you have to come back at a specific time to cash it in. All this in aid of trying to get a few euro a week of our own money back. F*ck that.

If deposits are paid and containers are not returned then yes Re-Turn keep it but Ive seen it posted here that money kept from deposits go back into the scheme. If recycle rates dont hit the targets we've been told this scheme is all about:

From re-turn.ie

then maybe there'll be a rethink and changes made. IIRC 90% is the target in 5/6 years time. Some on here say "well if you want to throw away money that's your choice and you're not right in the head". Fair enough but I'm just not up for this nonsense at all. The juice isnt worth the squeeze here for me. Not by a long way. This is what I meant by in the short term Im willing to lose deposits to at least try and get this scheme changed in some way because it's a ill conceived mess right now. People have even posted here they're putting all recyclables in their black bin in protest. I don't blame them. Something tells me instead of fixing the scheme to make it easier on customers the rethink could be increased deposits but I'd hope for some changes to how the scheme actually functions. Unless there's some other way besides emailing Re-Turn or posting on their social media channels which I dont think will have much impact at all.

The juice isnt worth the squeeze here for me.

So you know what the next step will be. They'll make it so the juice is worth the squeeze. It won't be carrot and stick, it'll just be stick.

Yeah I think you're right.

A bigger stick. There was no carrot.

..

You'd probably be best starting off with complaints to Re-turn and Centra.

That way you can strengthen your case by showing that they are not dealing with your issue (obviously that's assuming they don't).

What's your problem ?

Maybe if you post it here we could help.

I would question yhe real uptake % data.

Only once ever I have seen anyone using the return machines, that was a small local tesco, and it seems it wouldnt work for the customer. I pass by dunnes, aldi, dunnes and/or supervalu machines at least 3 to 4 times a week, never have I seen anyone use them.

I lived in Germany for many years, and thete used to be a Q at these machines, hence the reason I gave up returning, as my time was to precious.

We continue to put our cans & plastic bottles in our green recycle bin as we always have.

I keep saying it, fly-tipping is a much more serious and high priority problem in Ireland.

How do you resolve fly tipping in Ireland? the people get fined and the continue to do it

People have set up "garbage removal" companies and all of it is fly tipped, the people giving over the stuff to these companies are aware of what is been done but don't care

Unless you can catch them in the act, which is really hard because they do it late at night around a network of back roads which can't be monitored. Or you try find a receipt/bill in the items dumped and you go after that person, which normally turns out they gave the rubbish to someone to dump

Our area is in countryside and its a weekly job of reporting fly tipping.

Maybe it is time to make it compulsory to have a bin company collecting? even at that in our area you will see fiull garage cleanout's dumped

Exactly, it's very much a recycling scheme that favours retailers. Even large corporations like McDonalds can be exempt. You can only use the voucher in the shop you return the bottles in or have to go to customer service and try and get money back. If the machines aren't working, tough.

Fines, deterent signs, threats of cctv, etc dont work. Thats obvious.

State needs to invest & provide public waste centre where everyone can bring their household items, builders waste, etc. And at no extra cost than that of property taxes, inckme taxes and VAT which everyone already pays.

We have a holiday home in France, we pay property tax. There is a local amenity centre where we bring old lawnmovers, mattresses, treecutting, paint, oil, etc. Its a rural area with lots of small roads and paths for walking & biking. Never once have I seen fly tipping.

With surplus budgets, this would benefit everyone and the environment.

Local authorities already have the power to check up how a household disposes of waste.

Some have followed up on this and demand to see your bin contract or receipts from a civic amenity site.

Of course that doesn't sort out the issue of the man with a van clearing out sheds.

Imagine if you lived on an island, and had to get a boat, then bus it to a shop 😉

For those who are having issues with storing bottles/etc before going back to the shop - how many bottles/cans do you go through?

My son lives with his mother in a part of Cork that has dodgy water from time to time, so she buys plenty of bottled water. She has a bag for life in a cupboard that she fills up and brings back when full. I have a bag in the boot of my car.

Now I know we're in the city, so plenty of choice for rvms, but we're not swamped in cans/bottles either.

As for somebody questioning the stats of usage due to their anecdotal evidence that nobody is using the machines near them, I can confirm that I've seen loads use them. There's a centra up the road from me that has their rvm just inside a door, which is a bit annoying when someone is using it, and I've had to wait a few times because somebody was using it. I was in tesco the other night and 2 people were getting rid of a load of stuff (big black bags) and there was a queue behind them. I was in another tesco 2 weeks ago and the machines were full due to use (they were emptying them while I was shopping).

So they are being used and it's not a major inconvenience for myself or my ex anyway.

In Czechia, if you rent and are working, as part of your PAYE taxes, you pay a metropolitan tax, which pays for waste removal. I'm assuming a sliver of ones property tax is used if you own a property too. The bin gets collected every 3 days, and if you put something anything in, or next to the bin it gets collected, even the old mattress, or dead washing machine etc.

I said earlier in the thread, instead of trying to fix a problem that actually didnt exist, they should have looked at waste disposal first.