Deposit return scheme (recycling) - Part 2

IIRC it was stated that the required facility to recycle all the RVM plastic wasn't available in Ireland.

I thought the plan was to build one in Limerick and until that was done the only option was export.

Of course export is not ideal.

If the folks in Monaghan have the answer it should be followed up on.

https://www.dublinlive.ie/news/world-news/i-bought-house-using-money-31716750

One mans rubbish…

You should be able to show DRS related price increases at this point, the deposit is still the same as it was at launch, they are still being (mostly, at least in big stores) shown independent of price and prices aren't factoring in DRS.

The areas to argue on are accessibility of the machines (no worse than other countries) reliability of machines (this is an ongoing issue) and profits of the DRS company due to lack of returns (which means % of non returns can be calculated).

Polish cans being sold by take aways would be another.

Anecdotally, at an event recently, all plastic bottles were being collected due to DRS rather than being dumped into the general waste bags for landfill. Question is whether this behavioural change outweighs those who don't return them for whatever reason (or just feeds the company profits by dumping them in the green bin).

Inflationary rise is very much a different thing, I agree.

I understand perfectly well what a deposit is, but when prices went up overnight by the value of the "deposit", that represents a price increase, almost certainly to help subsidise the scheme itself.

I agree others want to discuss the various merits of the scheme and this topic is a distraction.

I will leave it there.

If the consumer decides to keep the bottle, it costs 1.00 euro the day before DRS and 1.15 after DRS is introduced.

It's a price increase.

Even the EY study before launch called out the additional upfront cost.

An additional cost that cannot be offset without returning the bottle is a fixed additional cost, simply because you were able to keep the bottle before DRS, without incurring any additional charge.

I am leaving it there also. Most people can see the increase, whether you choose to deny it or not.

what bright spark came up with 15cent, why not 10/20/50 cent 🙄

https://www.thejournal.ie/deposit-return-scheme-shipped-abroad-6713216-May2025/

This is because – until the scheme was established last year – there was no central operator handling recycled plastics and “no facility in Ireland” can recycle a higher quality type of the raw material.

...

“The best way to change this is by making local bottle to bottle recycling financially viable. The Deposit Return Scheme is contributing to this by ensuring a steady supply of high-quality recyclate material, which is essential for setting up the necessary infrastructure in Ireland and meeting EU recycling targets,” the Re-Turn spokesperson said.

Well how about getting a facility built in Ireland ffs. Whats the point having all this "high quality recyclate" and shipping it out of the country?

Wouldn't be because Re-Turn prefer to continue selling off the cans and keeping 54,000,000+ euro per year.

This is a video from the company that Matt Carthy says can do the PET processing. It is from before DRS, and shows the process they do to separate PET from the other waste in domestic bins. DRS renders that unnecessary, by separating it in RVM's. At 9 minutes 30 he says the PET pellets are ready for despatch, ready for going out to the customers. But he does not say whether those customers are in Ireland. They also do good work in house to turn other plastic waste into refuse sacks.

This is part of what Carthy said in the Dail. Knocking heads together to end the scandal is a nice soundbite, but I expect it is not that simple. Throughout the world may be an exaggeration, DRS only mention Europe including GB.

"This means that 88% of the plastic collected under what is called an environmental scheme is actually being shipped to locations throughout the world. Does the Tánaiste accept this is environmentally ludicrous and goes against the principle of the scheme? Will he, as Tánaiste, along with the Taoiseach knock whatever heads need to be knocked together to sort out this scandal?"

Once again the climate alarmism nonsense is exposed for simply being a way to enrich those behind it rather than any actual improvements - what a surprise!

Maybe someday this country will finally grow up and stop thinking that we alone stand between the planet and enviornmental catastrophe, or that our example will have any influence on the actual problem polluters, and stop punishing ourselves needlessly for the "likes" and "feelz".

put cans in machine this am got distracted and walked off without pressing the return button 😬🙄🙄

is it just tough ****? Pay better attention next time?

but If the request receipt button (or other name) isn’t pressed then….? Does the machine stay active indefinitely until someone presses the request receipt button like as if it’s awaiting more cans/bottles ?

https://gript.ie/the-deposit-return-scheme-is-a-recycling-disaster/

It’s hard at this point not to argue that the scheme has been a cod — a profit making exercise from the start, with inefficient machines which have done little but burden staff and customers. As Keogan said this week, we already have recycling bins which we pay for with our taxes. The Government doesn’t seem to care where the materials are actually recycled, and the emissions footprint from flying them across the globe, because this is more about bureaucratic box ticking than anything else.

Why wasn’t there any kind of low-cost public awareness campaign encouraging people to use their green bins if this was such a problem to begin with? Surely that would have been a better incentive before launching in to such an expensive scheme. The killer blow for the whole thing is that this environmental scheme has actually ended up being worse for the environment. Only in Ireland, eh?

no , it’s stated in the official blurb about the scheme that it will NOT TAKE damaged bottles and cans. I went about shecking / challenging this. So with the help of a tin snips, a long flat screwdriver, a pliers and a round headed metal bar I have ‘straightened out’ fairly flat cans with a circa 75% acceptance. Depending on the ‘damage/mangling’ done to the can will depend on what you have to snip off to ‘get at’ the can/ bottle. Put what you cut off back into the can and away- using sellotape- as machines are said to be weight sensitive. Bar code and logo must not be damaged. If they have a slight ‘wrinkle’ and it cannot be ‘straightened out’ then snip it off, press something smooth and that’s rounded over it eg rounded knob of screwdriver, and sellotape it back on to the can. This worked most times for me

Some of my d’doctored cans looked very battered going into the machine but the shape was roughly ok, the weight was ok and the code/ logo was ‘readable’

I also found that some machines are ‘more acceptable ‘ of ‘reconstituted cans’ than others

So if you like a challenge and have the time and patience and like ‘beating systems’ - LEGALLY- then have a go at the above. You could be doing worse!!!

You will find that re the above one will have more success with plastic bottles than with can ‘ straightening’

A regular who uses my local machine squashes all her Coke cans in the middle (the new type longish ones) and they're usually fine. The occasional one is rejected but almost always works on the second or third attempt.

Look up the meaning of the word Scam.