Deposit return scheme (recycling) - Part 2

Hard to argue with that. Other bin companies will follow now that havent hiked already.

Cant wait to read the stat gymnastics on how it's still the "bad binmen" robbing us and nothing to do with Re-Turn.

Remember there was absolutely no reason to take aluminium into this DRS. Besides greed of course.

Im off to buy some soda water to offset this price increase. That should cover it 🤣.

I walked into a shop yesterday. A soda water product which was 75 cents before DRS, and for some time after is now 65 cents. There are endless examples of other price reductions. But this is just normal, and nothing to do with DRS. Unless someone can prove it.

Bought a bottle of coke at Croke Park on Saturday, no barcode so obviously not re-turn-able. Thought all in-scope products were meant to be re-turn-able, or is there an exemption for the GAA?

We still haven't got clarity regarding the actual amount of the €2.99 per month increase that is attributed to DRS.

Obviously it's not the full €2.99.

It's also worth noting that Greyhound also increased their prices by €3 per month in July 2023 prior to the introduction of DRS.

old stock is still allowed, that deadline was quietly extended, he paid no deposit so no issue.

I bough a slab of beer in Tesco a few weeks back, old stock no deposit, no issue

Not sure, it was a round that included alcohol and I paid by card without a receipt. If it was it was 15c on a €25+ round so unnoticeable

My point is it isn't re-turnable

It's not a combination of both. Nothing to do with DRS.

It happened at the same time as DRS though. Producers were forced to change their packaging, add Re-turn symbol and a barcode to multipack items and while they were redesigning their packaging they changed the multipack size from 24 to 18 without reducing the price.

"While general inflation has eased many costs for businesses continue to rise,” Greyhound Recycling said in a letter sent to customers late last week. “Factors such as disposal fees, levies, and changes in nationwide recycling processes have all contributed to this increase."

That is what Greyhound are saying. They are putting it down to many costs including disposal fees and levies having increased. That would have been the case before and after DRS anyway. My lot never wrote to me to explain why they increased their charges over the years. So far they have not made any increase since DRS.

I'd be interested to see what soft drinks are included in the CPI basket. I can find that there are 612 items in the basket but cannot find the actual list.

To counter your point, swiss rolls made the headlines for being taken out of the basket earlier this year. The price of a swiss roll could double and it wouldn't be reflected in the CPI. That doesn't help the individual buying the swiss roll.

They never specify brands. Three items in the category:

1) Soft drink - can/small bottle

(2) Soft drink - large bottle

(3) Energy drinks

There's some other categories potentially affected by this also, one for soft drinks and mixers in pubs; another for mineral water in restaurants.

Thanks for that. Am I right to think that the price of a 24 can multi pack would never feature in the CPI given those three items?

There is nothing on the CPI to say multi packs are not allowed for. Where did you find that out? If I was doing it, I would use the price per litre of say Fanta or Coke. This has to be shown on the shelf, and online. So easy for people to see which is the best deal. Complaints here often pick out the most expensive to have a moan about. This Coke is €3.54 per litre, but in the same shop another package has it at €2 per litre.

https://www.tesco.ie/groceries/en-IE/products/316193333

"Each month, approximately 30 price collectors collect around 10,000 prices directly from shops and other retail outlets. Another 10,000 prices are collected online in the CSO and another 20,000 prices are provided as transaction data by retailers directly to the CSO. In addition to this, 3,000 prices are collected by the Consumer Prices Special Inquiries area using email and telephone inquiries along with additional internet price collection.

Price collectors are given a broad specification for the items they select initially and are required to choose an item that is popular and available. They then have to price the same item month on month. If the item is no longer available, a new comparable item is chosen and priced going forward. This new item is not compared to the item it was replacing. This same methodology is applied to the data collected online and also to the transaction data collected directly from retailers. In this way, the many different choices made by consumers relating to brand, size and point of purchase are reflected."

The specification is for an item, not a division of a multi pack of the item; they definitely cannot go for price per litre as that isn't what's in the basket.

I don't see anywhere that goes into the specifics on what is allowed for and what isn't allowed for.

I know with my own eyes that the price per unit on multipacks has increased significantly in the past 8 months or so and that the price of lucozade zero has increased by 10 percent (based on the advertised price on the bottle)

I know that bottles of Coke/orange etc in places like Supervalu are all now well north of 2 euro - I don't have a reference point but my kid tells me they are much more expensive than they were.