Deposit return scheme (recycling) - Part 2

But on the plus point your money you can't get back is earning interest for Re-Chit-Chit.

And that is all that matters.

Even the cheer leaders will get there for a finish and just admit it, it's a logical conclusion, the vehement defence of this scam has been watered down to inch of it's life as is.

A bit like the reverse vending machines not being able to handle the volume being added to them…😉

The response is that it separates certain materials from the general recycle bin. Which is what these machines are designed for everywhere.

So exactly the same end result as when the recycling companies did it in bulk?

Ive seen many many many bales of pure PET and pure aluminum come from the end of the process in waste centres, all perfectly recyclable. How does this scheme enhance that?

Poor overworked Vanilla

Ah my friend, haven't you considered:- Re-turn is much more performative than simply recycling at home.

At a stroke, we all do much, much more for the environment than we did before.

https://eurekarecycling.org/caps-on-for-pet-recycling/

How Do They Separate the Two Plastics?

It seems like it would be difficult, but it’s actually quite simple. Bottles and caps are ground into flakes, washed vigorously, and then separated with a water bath float/sink process. PET sinks, while HDPE floats. Pretty ingenious!

So, now you know, that leaving caps on PET bottles is not just a matter of convenience; it’s a strategic move toward a more sustainable and accessible recycling future. In order to ensure that ALL of your beverage bottle is recycled, Eureka Recycling encourages you to cap your bottles and help us keep all of those small colorful pieces of plastic out of our waste stream.

More plastic and cans being recycled, that previously just went to landfill/incinerator.

Hand sanitizers are needed at every machine. Also - I was at Aldi last week and the area around the machine absolutely stank ! Reminded me of the landfill smell near our estate in the 70's. Same stink.

Why hand sanitizer?? I've used the machines a number of times and never had reason to touch them except for the "Finish" button.... you'd touch the screen of a self checkout more often.

I've never noticed a stink either, I have to say.

None. The aluminium will be sold off as it always was in high numbers.

Remember this scam was introduced under the single use plastic directive, Re-Chit-Chit insisted on cans being included to grab more cash to sell them but also why pocket unclaimed deposits from just one item when you can double it to two.

The plastic will continue to be exported, landfilled and incinerated. With a fraction bought back on the market as pellets so the producers can stick bullshít claims on their products about recycling. Each new bottle on the market only has be made of 25-30% recycled materials.

The absolute greed of including cans in this scam guaranteed it to fail on any sort of environmental level. Any country that I have looked at that has this scam, single use plastic has increased substantially as has aluminium.

But this is just Green Theatre which is also now the law.

So shut and put up and give them your money.

There is no getting away from it.

But but but if you don't want to play, just recycle like you always did.

Well no, this scam has ripped scale away from the collection companies, the idea that anything in your "green" bin will end up recycled has never been slimmer.

Of course we all get to compensate the collection companies for their financial loss.

There is absolutely zero in this scam that benefits the public or the environment and in reality will just harm both.

If?????????????? Some have already.

If the DRS is the most aggravating thing in your life, as it seems to be for many on here, consider yourselves very lucky.

Who suggested that?

It does appear to be the most important thing in your life though as you gleefully announce on the internet you used a dustbin successfully.

Think about that for a minute.

Arguably, including cans was the most egregious part of this.

Imagine if cans were left out, what is likely to have happened is that the imposition of a deposit on plastic would lead drinks companies to move away from plastic bottling, towards cans.

Cans are infinitely recyclable, less damaging to the environment when not recycled, and had high collection rates here already via kerbside and civic recovery points. They also have higher reclaim value, and can be identified easily in mixed recycling.

Instead, by equating cans to plastic, plastic production volumes are kept more or less as is, there is basically no incentive anywhere in the DRS scheme, not for producer, retailer or consumer, to reduce plastic use. (I am discounting any minor drop in demand following DRS).

I quoted you to see if I could get an answer to what the Re-hit-Chit was as it makes no sense to me, if you want to say Sh1t why not just use one, 2 is overkill and conflates it's usage.

I had said "yourselves" as well to emphasise that it was plural. It's actually not a dustbin but I won't argue that point when you (individual) are 100% against the scheme.

If people can come on and state that they couldn't use it then why can't I counter it and say that it worked with no issues? That's called balance and it's what's required in debates not just angry people shouting the loudest wins.

As I said if this whole scheme is that much of an annoyance in people's lives then they're very lucky because it really isn't much of a deal at all whether you agree with the scheme or not. Proper 1st World problem that doesn't warrant this much anger.

We deserve to see proof that when these are collected from the machines they aren't mixed up with other recyclable material in the truck. Or when they arrive at the dump they aren'tjust piled up with all the other recyclable materials. So defeating the purpose.

I was at the music festival All Together Now a few years back and they were promoting it as a green environment friendly festival. They had separate bins for recyclable materials.

The bin truck arrived, piled everything in it together with the general waste!!

Show us proof Re-turn...

But I can clearly see I'm getting nowhere

That is solely of your own making.

You never answered my question. I'll try again, it's part of debate.

Well I imagine people with disabilities or mobility issues may disagree with you Gary, are they lucky?

So you are refusing to answer, and pretending to take the moral high ground.

How unique.

Anyway have a good one. 👍️

We have discussed this matter several times.

To date nobody including myself has been able to put a figure on how much of any bin company price increase was due to DRS.

I think we need this information.

If you feel you need hand sanitiser you could bring your own but I don't think it's necessary if your items are clean and empty.

Also as the other poster pointed out you only touch the receipt button.

I have never experienced a foul smell near an RVM.

The landfill smell you recall was caused by rotting waste which wouldn't be coming from an RVM in any case.

I agree with you. I fully expected bin charges to go up, and certainly from my own experience / that I have noticed they have not (for any reason).

On the subject of waste collection - I wonder if at any point Re-turn will engage with the waste collection companies and find a way to pay them (the recycling companies) the deposit on any items they separate out from their recycling streams.

I would love to ask them if they are serious about hitting recovery targets then why have they not done this already.

It would be more meaningful in terms of their actual mandate and environmental impact than enabling charitable donations, for example.

It's baked into the scheme.

Not only will the collection companies lose money on selling high value trash, they will also lose the subsidies they received for collection.

TBF they did highlight this and tried to keep at least cans away from the scheme.

They were ignored.

The loss of income will be passed onto the consumer plus X% obviously because this is Ireland and we don't do regulation.

Re-turn have been citing 'commercial sensitivities' on some very dubious grounds for not releasing figures.

It would be good to get a clearer picture from bin companies, but they may have more grounds to cite commercial sensitivities for such an impact on their operations.

It is reasonable to assume that bin charges will increase as a result of it given that bin companies still have to collect the same bins, given that it is known that the aluminium cans are the most valuable of items collected, and were so valuable they were included in scope of Re-turn primarily for economic reasons.

I have.

I was recycling glass and out of scope cans.

Our civic amenity site always charged for plastic so I didn't take any plastic there

It's hard to know unless you know when they were collected but it's a fair assumption that they are less used.