Deposit return scheme (recycling) - Part 2

TheJournal have the same with a "Consumers miss out" headline. The desperate attempts to tell us its all our fault Re-Turn have a massive slush fund really are getting old:

Consumers miss out

IRISH CONSUMERS LAST year turned their back on €66.7 million

the failure by consumers to redeem

https://www.thejournal.ie/irish-consumers-miss-out-on-e66-7m-from-failing-to-cash-in-deposit-return-scheme-deposits-6786533-Aug2025/

Maybe just maybe these consumers dont want to engage with a half assed DRS.

The company’s 2024 costs totalled €62.2 million made up of direct collection and recycling costs of €46.5 million and administrative expenses of €1.5.7 million which included a spend of €4.6 million on ‘marketing, communications, and public awareness’.

Costs of 62.2 million for a year with nearly 5 mill on advertising! Jaysus.

A better breakdown of this figure would be nice but probably more chance of getting IBAN refunds at this stage.

The great thing about Re-Turn is you will always have some harebrained idea presented as if its normal. That 4.6mill on marketing must be working. Let me ask you where there no bin surrounds at this sporting event?? Did you not go door to door at houses nearby to see if some child is saving up for a football! 🤣 Dont turn your back on that money! If you do you're a failure!!

I realise it's not what you want to hear but when someone buys an item and pays the deposit it is indeed up to them to reclaim it.

It's a transaction with T's and C's.

Surely an inconvenience for anyone arriving on foot.

However those who arrived by car could just put them in the boot and bring them home.

17 miles is a bit of a trek but presumably it's a journey people must make to buy groceries and maybe not all attendees are that far from a RVM.

The days of buying a can or bottle on the go and dumping it without the penalty of losing the deposit are over.

Some very interesting comments in this Journal article.

Do you return your bottles and cans to get your deposit back? https://share.google/iMl9pZItZds32W1iz

Well I suppose it's up to them. People carry all kinds of stuff around all day, why not a few grammes of plastic compared to say, their phone or rain jacket or keys.

Maybe some people are embarrassed to redeem their deposits also.

More bin surrounds planned. This was announced before, but more detail in this update. 16 minutes on average for the containers to be picked up by someone looking to get the money that others don't need.

https://re-turn.ie/re-turns-bin-surrounds-to-boost-on-the-go-recycling-in-dublin-city-centre/

Unrelated, I was in Navan for 2 GAA Football League games earlier this year. I walked fom Blackcastle past the Round O and via Flower Hill to Tailteann Park, around 20 minutes walk. Both Sundays I did not see a single container discarded on the way to the stadium or on the way back. Lots left behind on the terraces at the ground, but I assume someone connected with organising the games would arrange for those to be "cashed in". People can bring the full containers to sports events, but it is too much trouble for them to bring the empties home it seems. And plenty of them are not empty, lots of expensive sugary water being thrown away.