Deposit return scheme (recycling) - Part 2

Why is it meaningless?

WOW. That is some statement to illustrate a level of ignorance I didn't think was possible for somebody that went to school. Even a flat earther would laugh at that

It means you can even make a CLG (unaccountable quango) sound great with the right backing

Niamh Kelly, Head of Marketing and Communications at Re-turn

is paid to produce feel good guff with no mention of:

- whats in the Re-Turn deposit kitty (our money not refunded)

or

- have more containers been sold in 2024 compared to 2023 as predicted with a DRS? I.e. more than 1.8 BILLION in scope containers for 2023 as stated by CEO Foley on Newstalk last week.

In Ireland we do things our way. Never mind the "reduce" part of "reduce, re-use, recycle". Grand job lads.

Doesn't make it meaningless just you and others want more information. Fair point but the fact is not meaningless

I'm not going into literary pedantry with you again, but without sold containers it is meaningless.

You are literally complaining about raw data and the fact it doesn't have other data you want. I get the point, I disagree, but again the globe statement is something you would agree with?

But that is what you replied to. Either way if somebody keeps agreeing with you and you can see they are a complete idiot would it not make you wonder a little bit?

Because plastic bottles and cans were collected by bin companies before. DRS does not collect more or less than they did before. And it is meaningless mainly because to this day we do have no idea how many of DRS collected containers are actually recycled and what happens with the rest.

I get your point what more do you want? If you are going to use a term like “raw data” just know what it means. When you talk comparisons that is analysis of raw data. You know this is after hours right?
If somebody says something stupid or wrong expect to be called out.
you have one person saying they leave stuff behind at RVM if it doesn’t scan and another showing images of mess around them. Nobody calling the other out.

Tried to use a return voucher in the self service in Aldi since none of the tills were open. I wasn't aware but the self service doesn't let you use it without a purchase; annoyance number 1. Turns out once you scan it the voucher is immediately used and even if the transaction is voided it can't be used at a different till; annoyance number 2. Had to wait for a manager to get a keychain of special barcodes out of the safe in the back and scan individual barcodes worth 15 and 30 cent until he made up the amount I was owed before he could refund me.

I do not have issue with anything you said apart from fairly simple but very important detail. We need to start calling things by what they are.

There is very little recycling going on with regard of plastic waste. So little in fact it is hard to comprehend how easily can people be fooled. It is because the term "recycling" is being tossed left and right so much it became convenient to hide behind. The very few companies who are involved in recycling plastic waste are heavily subsidized and without these subsidies their produce would be too expensive to touch.

We simply produce too much of different plastics from which only small amount can be recycled and even that can be done only few times. Recycling plastics is simply too expensive and the only viable and widely used method of "recycling" plastics is when they are turned to energy. Incineration. However, that is very complicated to sell along with green agenda so it become the thing everybody know but nobody talk about.

Its almost like they're trying to make you give up or buy something. Or even better give up and buy something.

Just to be clear again. This is a collection scheme. Only difference between this and what it replaced is allegedly better metrics and more of a carrot and stick than previous.

Of course your points are valid and of course many groups support recycling, why wouldn't they in the absence of anything else.

However let's be clear here, when you look at those that benefit most from the status quo(focus on collection/recycling) rather than a focus on reducing(which of course we can do on an individual basis)or focus on alternatives, you see that the producers, some of whose profits are in the hundreds of millions globally, you see that all of these schemes will remain in place without actually solving any problems that will be better for the planet long term. They need to be forced into it and perhaps our own state needs to work harder on this.

I didn't mention DRS in my post as I thought the discussion was about plastic in general.

I agree that the manufacturers/retailers are very profitable.

They probably won't do a lot to reduce plastic use unless legislation forces them.

At the same time Irish consumers benefit from plastic use in terms of price and the range of goods available.

I can't see much chance of our small market which is inextricably linked into UK/EU supply lines being able to drive change.

Do you realize that most of plastic bags and plastic packaging still end up exactly where it ended up 30 years ago?

I would actually argue that all of them end up the same simply because they are usually considered to be contaminated and even though they are usually made of PET, only plastic bottles are usually recycled. While there may be bit less of plastic bags as some people use reusable bags or paper bags the problem is still the same as it was 30 years ago.