Deposit return scheme (recycling)

I only go when I have amassed a large amount of bottles/cans so have only been to a machine once since the scheme started. I am sure there will be others like me so the low return rate might just be people who are waiting until they have enough empty bottles and cans.

The solution to the low return rate will probably be to increase the levy on bottles and cans in the shops. More money is always their solution.

If RVMs being out of order or not accepting in scope containers continues this scheme should be scrapped.

What good is increasing the deposits if the fundamentals are not working?

Machines that accept 100s of containers dumped into them need to be added. Whether that's beside local bottle banks or at recycling centres it doesnt matter. The money looks to be there. Millions of euro in unclaimed deposits already.

Surely better machines fall under the "other recycling initiatives" to be funded by deposits we keep hearing about?

This gombeen nonsense of pushing people into the store where you get your voucher is not working.

Been away for a couple of days so not been able to comment on the numbers re-turn announced.

The last I seen was for Saturday 30 March, reporting up to Friday 29 March. On that day they reported 21,018,360 containers as of Friday 29 March, including a record day of 1.267m containers for Good Friday.

Setting these in context then to get a daily collection record, I looked back to the previous number - 15.8m containers as cited by the CEO on Weds 27, which I had assumed related to numbers as of say end Tues 26.

However, if the 15.8m related to Tues that would mean in the 3 days to Friday 5.2m units were collected, which in turn would mean Friday's 1.2m 'record' would not be correct. I therefore assume the 15.8m containers were up to Sunday evening (24 March), and the 5.2m were for 5 days, or an average of around 1m per day.

What we can say is that the overall collection rate of items sold vs items returned is likely less than 10% (300m items sold, <25m returned), we have to make allowance for items that have been sold in the period without deposit (old stock). Very hard to know that number unless re-turn tell us.

That said, I believe we are well over 4m units being soled per day with deposit, so at average run rate of 1m collected per day our daily collection ratio seems to be around 25% now. This is an uplift from the 10% estimated in early March, but obviously needs to get far higher if the scheme is deemed to be working as expected (65% recycling rate previously needs to be exceeded fairly soon, and close to 90% needs to be met by 2029).

The other interesting stat released is the number of items per visit. The 21m items were returned across 6.89m transactions - i.e. the average return is just 3 items. This seems low to me, an average payout of just 60c. I would say to have an average of 3 items there must be lots of single or 2-item transactions, so payouts as little as 15c. This could be a lot of people trialling the system, but could also be people who had numerous items to return and only succcessfully returned an averag of 3 (very concerning). Just my opinion, but if as a population we buy 2-3 containers a day on average per household, I would have expected an average of maybe 6-10 items per transaction.

I hope re-turn give some comprehensive stats for March, its very much open to interpretation the level of success so far.

Sources of recent stats:

You have to go back 30 years here to get to the point were bin's became privatized, for most of the country it is pretty much long forgotten and accepted as the norm.

Three seperate attempts at three different stores to return empty bottles for deposit refund

On all occasions the machines were full or out of service and I had to bring them back home.

Are retailers obliged to refund the customers money if the machines are not working? In my experience so far the machines are highly unreliable or else not maintained correctly.

It was so much easier using the Green bin for plastic but hopefuly they will solve the problems with these machines soon

Visited the machines in Aldi over the weekend. One out of order the other working but it refused to accept two cans that came from a multipack while accepting all the rest from the same multipack. Might only be 30 cents but it annoyed me, feels like a scam that waste my time compared to just putting them in the green bin like I always did for the last 15 years. Those who did the right thing are the ones being shafted here.

This whole Re-turn nonsense has gotten me thinking about recycling in general and who is making money from it at our expense. Especially how our dry waste ends up being burnt in an incinerator in Dublin so a private US company Covanta can generate electricity from it and then make money selling that electricity back to the grid, i.e. to us.

So because of this Re-turn nonsense Ive had a lighbulb moment and have now decided that instead of sending all my waste paper and cardboard into a 'green bin' for a private company to burn I'll be burning it in my own fire instead and using the energy & heat from it for myself. I actually feel dumb for not doing this sooner but it was the introduction of this Re-turn scheme that made me realise how the government have commodified recycling for private companies. And they want us as the consumer to supply them with what they need for free in order to make money out of us. So Im opting out from here on in, if I have dry recycling that is burnable then Im going to burn it. Im no longer going to take part in their charade, if its good enough for a private company to burn it then I'll be doing likewise and not giving away an easy source of heat for free to a US multinational. And the Greens can stick that in their pipe and smoke it, Im so done with this nonsense and this Re-turn scheme has been the straw that has broken the camels back for me.

I'll bet the Crafty won't be €1.89 this time though.

I have taken to whacking valid but rejected bottles into the machine so they are 'accepted', so to speak. There must be a scam in some shops with all tax paid bottles not being accepted. Are the staff/owners going through the rejects afterwards?

As I say, it's only a rumour that they are even back

With respect, that's an urban view. We wouldn't have been at all unusual in not having a public bin collection service. Just as we have to pay from our own pockets for water and sewage facilities. As stated above, the commercial bin collection service for waste and recyclables was a boon when it came in.

In many ways this new scheme sees a bit of a rural/ urban split too.

You would think these machines should be at their best as they are brand new and logic says they will become worse as they get older. Those in charge of this scheme have made an absolute dog's dinner of nearly every aspect of this and at some stage somebody's going to have to make a call on it. So much money spent on machines that clearly weren't tested properly to see if they were capable of doing the one task they were built for. I don't think you can expect people to keep bringing bottles back to these machines to be met with problems. It won't be long until the few people that have given them a chance will stop bothering.

Anyone find that since the deposit return scheme has come in that they are throwing more recycling rubbish in the general waste? I have noticed I am doing that more as mainly due to the cans and plastic bottles having to separated now, it use to be any recycle waste such as the cans, plastic bottles, paper, packaging and the rest were put in the one bin and then take out to the recycle bin but now I have noticed that I am throwing more of the paper and packaging in the general bin because cans and plastic bottles have to be separated. Don't have enough room in the kitchen for a food bin, general bin, recycle bin and now the cans and bottles bin.

Haven't seen it in bottles in a long time. Good price, still cheaper than the cans