Deposit return scheme (recycling) - Part 2

Gettin Auld · 07-07-2025 10:56PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123613082#Comment_123613082

Some go thru just fine, and some are like dropping a spanner into a set of gears.

Gettin Auld · 07-07-2025 10:58PM

You wouldn’t believe how many people reported significant wasp activity during the very warm weekends, all those smelly beer cans and so on really drew in the wasps.

Gettin Auld · 07-07-2025 10:59PM

My opinion on Mandate is… mixed.

jj880 · 07-07-2025 11:09PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123613457#Comment_123613457

Another great "feature" of Re-Turn. My father nearly died from anaphylaxis years ago due to a sting in the neck. Its dangerous as he didn't know he'd react badly as had never been stung.

odyssey06 · 08-07-2025 07:22AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123613338#Comment_123613338

Probably take with you or leave as tip for staff.

Very few will bother to take returns due to our large exemption size of 250 square metres.

kippy · 08-07-2025 07:42AM

Does anyone know when this implementation/stats report is due out? I thought it was early July but no sign yet.

bog master · 08-07-2025 07:47AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123613445#Comment_123613445

If I recall correctly each item returned via RVM is worth 2.2 cent.

Genghis · 08-07-2025 08:31AM

Error post

Genghis · 08-07-2025 08:32AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123613712#Comment_123613712

About 4.55 on the Friday before August Bank Holiday. Ideally against the backdrop of an unfolding tragedy or scandal or celebrity death somewhere else in the news.

Gettin Auld · 08-07-2025 09:18AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123613723#Comment_123613723

You’re correct. I went and did some more reading and you are correct and I am wrong. It seems to vary from €0.022 to €0.026. I was genuinely told that it was 7c per 100 returns.

dxhound2005 · 08-07-2025 09:29AM

But it could take around 3 years for Tesco to recover the €15 million cost of installing the machines. A few months ago they reported 200 million returns in the first year. That would be €4.4 million from the 2.2 cents payments. It will probably be shorter though beacuse they were counting from February 2024, and the early months were low.

bog master · 08-07-2025 09:30AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123613903#Comment_123613903

Quite a difference eh? Valuable stuff them old cans.

L1011 · 08-07-2025 09:30AM

There's also a subsidy scheme for the first three years of low usage RVMs; something I suspect no Tesco has though!

dxhound2005 · 08-07-2025 09:56AM

The subsidy is explained here, along with other information. From before the scheme.

https://re-turn.ie/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Retailer-Handling-Fees-Update-July-2023.pdf

Gettin Auld · 08-07-2025 09:57AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123613944#Comment_123613944

A significant difference yes. It leads me to question it now if Tesco track it differently to recover their costs VS investment. Tesco said they invested €15,000,000 into their DRS machines. I don’t know, I’m not in management anymore and I’m just trying to think outside the bubble why my current Store Mnager told us those figures.

Now that I know the figures, makes me think that hosting a house party now might become a part-time job…

GarneyX · 08-07-2025 12:03PM

In fairness, in my experience the machines have dramatically improved (probably due to software updates?) compared to the first few months of the scheme. Most machines were absolutely terrible in the beginning, you'd have to insert every bottle/can 4 or 5 times for it to be accepted, machines were going dead mid transaction and so on.

Murph_D · 09-07-2025 08:47AM

[duplicate]

Murph_D · 09-07-2025 08:51AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123613935#Comment_123613935

That looks like a very good return on investment, unless maintenance and operating costs are very high.

bog master · 09-07-2025 09:31AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123616525#Comment_123616525

Good return, it is a brilliant business plan. Shops with an RVM machine get raw materials (cans & PET) delivered for free and sorted. Crush the cans and store them and be paid for this. ReScam collects sorted and crushed final product ready for sale.

Shops get paid, ReScam gets paid, hmm, seems someone who does the most work does not!

patnor1011 · 10-07-2025 09:00AM

Plus interest they accumulate while holding your deposit money. Either shops or re-hassle. Very few people bother to bring back bottles or cans the same day or the next one. Majority of people sit on them till they accumulate enough to warrant hauling bag of them back and that mean probably once a week 10-20 euro. Does not look a lot but multiply that amount by enough of people and you see they get to hold and use millions every week. Not only that these are interest free finances at their disposal they can and most likely are earning interest themselves.

dxhound2005 · 10-07-2025 09:48AM

The bin surrounds are being put in new areas. The report from 10 July says that 1.6 billion containers have been returned. If 5 million was sold every calendar day from 01 Feb 2024, that would make a return rate of 61%. But it would be higher than that because of the sale of non logo containers in the early months.

https://re-turn.ie/re-turn-rolls-out-bin-surrounds-programme-across-ireland/

rob316 · 10-07-2025 04:29PM

A year on I'm grand with it, the machines are fine, I was happy with putting them in my green bin but things change for better or worse, thats life.

Anyway my big bug bear that I would like to see in the future implemented is the ability for the voucher to be loaded onto an app on your phone. Ive lost count how many times, I've did the return, went off shopping and forgotten to scan the voucher at the till.

dxhound2005 · 10-07-2025 06:12PM

It is a two way street. It would need agreement between DRS and multiple financial institutions to operate. And they would not do it for free.

jj880 · 10-07-2025 06:58PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123621518#Comment_123621518

Would 54,000,000 euro per year cover it?

dxhound2005 · 10-07-2025 07:11PM

Like the vouchers which someone forgets to redeem on the day, that €54 million is available forever to be claimed. The shoppers can spend the vouchers whenever they go shopping again, or get cash for them. And anyone who wants their money back out of the €54 million simply has to bring their cans/bottles to a machine. I would not be in favour of DRS lining the pockets of the banks just to make life easier for forgetful shoppers.

jj880 · 10-07-2025 08:10PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123621697#Comment_123621697

Good man. Forgot about those 270,000,000 containers Ive been keeping out in the shed. Was just waiting for the right time to return them.

Genghis · 10-07-2025 09:47PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123621518#Comment_123621518

No, it wouldn't. SEPA and card schemes like Visa and MasterCard exist to enable value movements like this.

You would need

A secure app that scans a QR code from machine screen or from a receipt and stores value in a wallet. (Screens could be an issue as in someone snapping your QR code before you notice).
A way to transfer value from that wallet to either an IBAN or card, customers choice, within the app.
You would ideally have options such as 'automatically send my balance' (say each day) or 'send to me when I request it.

None of this is rocket science.

The biggest stumbling block I see is if the codes at step 1 are coded to specific retailers, the fact they cannot be redeemed in other stores suggest they might well be. Retailers may have insisted on this to 'ensure footfall', and once such specificity is designed in, it could be difficult to design out.

zell12 · 11-07-2025 09:35AM

Linden Village cider 500ml has the R logo and is part of the scheme.

But, two Tesco RVMs rejected it. ☹️

Ray Palmer · 11-07-2025 09:53AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123622138#Comment_123622138

and how much would the banks charge for that? There is a reason the stores get paid per return which isn't that much. The banks charge 1-3% in transaction fees. So the shop would get?

The codes are meant to be shared across all RVMs but it does require updates to be carried out which sometimes doesn't happen. It isn't about increasing footfall it is a mistake or poor administration by either the supplier or the retailer.

Genghis · 11-07-2025 12:29PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123623330#Comment_123623330

Fees would be minimal. SEPA is basically free, banks charge a fee to process payment files, but the cost of transfer is free. With the transaction volume re-turn would have (not to mind the perpetual 50m plus deposit balance) re-turn's cost processing cost would be minimal (BOI rack rate for SME SEPA payments is 8c per transaction, I expect re-turn could negotiate this to 1-2c per transaction).

For cards, as these are refunds, sales rates don't aoply indeed some parts of card fees work in reverse when refunding. Again, re-turn could negotiate minimal fees for these transactions.

They could also build in limits to manage their processing cost (e.g. minimum withdrawal of €10, etc).

I am not saying the overall facility of direct consumer reimbursement would be low cost; developing & maintaing the app, keeping consumer banking details secure, meeting potential regulations around anti money laundering, defending against fraud, ensuring operational resilience, etc all of these would have cost. But transaction fees would not be significant.

Again I say re-turn was not designed for direct reimbursement and changing it now will be the biggest impediment.

Deposit return scheme (recycling) - Part 2

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