Deposit return scheme (recycling) - Part 2

Home Delivery Returns

I was driving behind a Tesco home delivery van one day and noticed that the access doors are all on the sides.

The back panel is flat and has no doors.

Since then I've had the chance to examine a couple of the vans more closely but only from the outside.

I think I may have come up with a possible solution to the problem of delivery drivers not collecting DRS returns.

Basically it involves fitting a storage box to the rear of the delivery vans.

These boxes are often used on campervans and can be fitted directly to the back panel, on a bracket or fixed to a towbar.

The main objection to home collections put forward by the grocery companies was based on hygiene issues involved in carrying returns in a van delivering food.

Using this type of box attached to the back of the van means the returns are never in the same space as the food.

The customers could put their returns in a bag marked with a barcode or account number. Back at the store a staff member would put the contents into the RVM and credit their value to the customer's account.

As space is limited on each delivery run I would suggest that this service might initially be offered to people with mobility issues and the elderly.

Of course there would be the capital cost of purchasing and fitting the boxes along with any necessary modifications to the vans.

The boxes could be transferred to new vans when the existing ones are replaced.

Using "off the peg" boxes I expect the cost per vehicle would be c. €2-3k. Maybe more for custom built boxes

Also ongoing staff costs sorting returns and crediting accounts and a small delay for the van drivers collecting the bags.

Perhaps Re-turn would contribute towards the capital costs of piloting the operation.

Maybe someone who has mobility issues or is elderly and dependent on home delivery would be best placed to comment on the viability of this idea.

This link shows a box fitted to a campervan.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115908568307?chn=ps&_ul=GB&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-169260-534375-3&mkcid=2&keyword=&crlp=670833748941_&MT_ID=&geo_id=&rlsatarget=pla-325425753764&adpos=&device=m&mktype=pla&loc=1007850&poi=&abcId=&cmpgn=20488672762&sitelnk=&adgroupid=155578564071&network=g&matchtype=&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA2oW-BhC2ARIsADSIAWp_32NW62PTFLNxeMIwSRjbuw4pVKGC1g9AhVg1tSP1_ncuZW-MQjoaAoBpEALw_wcB

More here from a manufacturer.

https://www.warrellrichards.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=wix_google_business_profile&utm_campaign=1888494712906082589

But there is an element here just complaining for complaining sake too that it's a money making scheme and won't do anything to reduce the 54 million in unclaimed.

How would I donate my bottles to a charity?

I'm sure you'd find someone to take them off you

Where do I find such a person?

I'm not complaining for complaining sake, I like others, are pointing out the many failings in the scheme. The only way things will improve is if the failings are highlighted and acknowledged.

Some around here need to grow up. It wouldn't be that hard. If you ask locally there are chances a sports club or school etc with an orange bin I've seen them in my locality anyways.

So instead of a home delivery exemption people who cant make it to an RVM should eat the loss or "grow up and give their deposits to charity". Excellent.

I'm sorry but things are expensive enough without suggesting I just make a donation to charity to remove the PTA of going to town 10kms away to get my deposits back when I was already putting my bottles and cans in a recycling bin at home.

Fair enough some can't get to a machine but couldn't said people not make enquiries to a local club/organisation

Make enquiries, ask around surely someone would be willing to take them. Surely. Someone.

Or i could just use the green bin behind my building.

I just did a count, i have about 12 cans to go out. Worth about 2 euros . I could

1 - put them in my green bin

2 - get the bus to the nearest rvm and get my 2 euros, but that would leave me 4 euros out of pocket.

By the way, making enquiries to my local school or sports club would involve a bus or taxi also leaving me out of pocket.

We don't all live within walking distance of an RVM.

Coincidentally there is more to it than you care to admit. That amount is about similar to amount being taken from pockets of refuse companies when they were deprived of aluminium income stream. Those money then will be taken out of pockets of people paying for rubbish collection as someone has to foot that bill so we can actually talk about 100M which come to DRS and disappear with zero oversight.

Or if we want to go by your logic and claim its those lazy people abandoning 50M then we can still talk about other 50M they took from people pockets taking them off refuse companies pockets first.

We didn't have the euro 30 years ago. Did customers leave their cars unlocked and unsupervised while they were shopping or only when they had to return their trolley?

Also I never accused anyone of being lazy I explained why it's not a scam which seems to be claimed here every few posts.

It was nice to have a productive discussion with odyssey06 they raised some good points but the thread has turned back into a rant again so I will leave it there.

Also a reminder on my first post. "I prefered putting the DRS items into the green bin just like 100% of the population"

Yes they could.

The problem is there's a name for doing that.

It's called fraud.

It’s just another Irish solution to a problem that didn’t exist. Make the saps pay. In this case twice. Once for any can/plastic bottle and secondly through increased refuse charges.

We aren’t a serious country.

as others have said, this has been implemented in other countries long before here, modern political and economic ideologies are designed that the end user pays for such 'environmental' based policies, while other entities walk away with the spoils, such as the creators of our materials and goods…..

If Government had opted for a scheme that needed somebody in every household to download an app and use it every single time somebody in that household put a plastic bottle into the bin, or else lose out on getting their deposit back, how long do you think it would have been before there was a massive outcry of "what about all the poor old people who don't have smartphones and who aren't technically literate?"

If you want a comparison point, just look at the furore each year over how some GAA matches are streamed online rather than being shown on free-to-air television…..

As has been seen with Re-Turn so far anything meaningful that makes it easier to claim back a deposit is a non runner. The reason for this: 54,000,000 reasons per year.

No IBAN refunds or home delivery exemptions.

As for the shrieks of "what about apps befuddling the old people" well just like IBAN refunds its about having options for those that want them.

We're getting bin surrounds though. Yay!!!