I don't think you understand.
The DRS adds more car (assuming you cannot walk to the nearest DRS) (could be argued that you might be on a car journey anyway) and lorry journeys (these lorries wouldn't have been on the road anyway) to the environment than the situation just 12 months ago.
Do you agree that theres more carbon now used in the entire waste/collection service than there was 12 months ago as a result of this scheme?
No matter how many bin providers there are the DRS adds another other to that group and makes the existing ones less efficient one could argue.
As for your neighbour - good on them. We've significantly reduced the amount of "General Waste" we put in the bin over the years also. I'd say many have.
Not sure the relevance of farmers not getting bin collections where you grew up.
The classic refuse collection is long gone. The Council lorry which came around once a week to pick up the contents a single steel bin. To be transported to the local dump/tip/landfill, the home of odours, fires and seagulls. Replaced by coloured plastic bins collected on various pickup schedules. Two of my neighbours have changed contractor lately, so we have at least three separate lorries on the street at different times.
My next door neighbour never uses bins. He brings his stuff to the local Recycle Centre. I could do this too and save money, but I must have a drop of the don't care attitude in me which make people throw away 15/25 cents. The other big change is that these lorries go on to the country roads. Unless it was different in other places, farmers never got bin collections where I grew up.
I think you know more about the plastic and aluminium than you are letting on. If you know that it is being driven somewhere beyond Limerick, then you must know where that is?
It means less new plastic
somehow people on the thread linked prices increases, which were higher in previous years, to the introduction of DRS. With no evidence
A Directive allows you to state definitively "less new plastic" with no evidence but others are not allowed to deduce that the cost of RVMs + running this DRS is reflected in higher prices of popular soft drinks (not soda water)? 🤣
The CPI does not settle this debate as we cant see what soft drinks / multi packs etc are selected / left out.
So not for the first time I must have missed the thread rules where you decide when evidence is provided.
It does not mean that.
Only a fraction of collected plastic is recycled. Most end up in incinerators. Plus, to this day we do not have a clue what happens with plastic return is collecting.
One can even argue that return actually worsened situation simply because plastic and cans were collected by refuse collecting companies which still go around and collect waste we just added another middleman with their own fleet of lorries spewing out carbon driving all bottles to Limerick and then driving it somewhere else. All of which was done by classic refuse collection companies until this glorified waste collector came to existence.
But sure - it'll be too late in the future - it's too late now, many would say.
No worries.
As I said before I am in favour of sticking with the EU on this.
I don't think unilateral measures would make sense in this case.
That doesn't mean that things won't change in the future.
wow, you had to wait ten minutes on the till? did they not open another line?
Sorry, I never got back to you on this.
There are plenty ways to inform/change policy at EU level.
We have gone it alone before and others have followed.
Maybe they would take a case? Really - abandon the Irish market?
Surely you recognise the the DRS in its current implementation is nothing but window dressing.
You might have a look at the thread title again - just to refresh your mind on the topic we are discussing. The DRS itself.
The DRS is NOT going to lead to less plastics of any type (new or recycled) in circulation. There's plenty of evidence in countries where some implementation of this scheme is in place that shows very clearly that the amount of PET in circulation increases - this scheme does nothing to change that. Do you acknowledge that?
I don't think "everybody will be happy" is a good phrase to use as you can't please everyone all of the time.
Couldn't believe how much a person in Lidl cashed in with receipts yesterday on bottle returns, €190. She had so many receipts it took over 10 minutes to scan them and then the teller had to call a manager to pay out because there wasn't enough money in the till.
So just perpetuating the off topic discussion rather than ignoring it? OK, at least we know what we're dealing with. 🤐
I agree. But somehow people on the thread linked prices increases, which were higher in previous years, to the introduction of DRS. With no evidence. I will point out price reductions, if this happens again. Unless they provide evidence to link price increases to DRS.
It means less new plastic. And if you read the Directive, there are other sections devoted to reuse, and replacement. Look forward to the time when you won't be able to get a free paper/plastic coffee cup. Everybody will be happy then.
That doesn't mean less plastic will be in circulation......which should be the aim of any scheme foremost.
So what?? I still have to collect all plastic bottles and cans for return to a machine miles away to get a deposit back, when I have a recycling bin at home. CPI and the price of Soda Water is a completely mindless distraction from the topic.
And Lidl and Aldi are lower than Tesco. Tesco went down 10 cents, the other two 16 cents.
An old argument about how DRS scheme did not affect pricing beacuse tesco 1l soda water price is lower than it was before DRS introduction. 😁
The Single Use Plastics element of the Directive does focus on reducing the amount of new plastic. And crucial to achieving that is the clean stream of material from DRS.
I think we should stick with the EU Directive.
If the EU decides to restrict use of plastic we move with them.
Of course they're different, several people here are saying DRS should have been introduced differently, with a focus on reducing the amount of plastic produced, rather than assigning an artificial value to it.
You recycled my video from the previous page.
make people pay a new tax for something that they usually just throw into the recycling bin.
Again…this isn't a tax. The exchequer doesn't see a penny of it. It would have much been better for the country over all if it was actually a tax instead of going straight into the pockets of a private enterprise.
All the money that has been accrued from people who don't, or can't, claim it back on their cans/plastic is now "resting" in the account of Re-turn, Father Ted style.
That's how politics works. Corrupt people in governance will know where money will be invested and where money should be invested to make a profit. It was the ultimate scam, make people pay a new tax for something that they usually just throw into the recycling bin. If we bring them back then great it's more profit for the recycling company that said politicians and their friends had already invested in. They also invested in the machines for the deposit return scheme. It's just pure profiteering plain and simple.
what have I stumbled upon…?
Our scheme compared to few other countries look pretty much like this…
An update from Brainstorm with some more information about "paying forward" and community involvement.
I found the bulk machine that pays out only on in scope items but accepts all particularly interesting.
https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/1122/1460599-ireland-deposit-return-scheme-innovations/
I think there are more differences than similarities between DRS and those initiatives.
Who's in charge: us or plastic? Also in the news today, a new plastic which will biodegrade in seawater.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00254gg
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20241122_11/#:~:text=An%20international%20team%20led%20by,of%20microplastics%20in%20the%20oceans.
i personally see the best aspect of the DRS that way less bottles and cans trown in the bushes.
Dont think we should go back to "before"
I consider that both are required. Moving to aluminium and glass without a method to ensure collection for recycling and reuse respectively isn't enough.
Mixed stream recycling is not an effective way to get them back and is not an incentive to ensure they actually get to a recycling bin in the first place.
