Deposits on bottles, tins etc.

Del.Monte

An old thread from 2013 here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056988634&page=2

Closed or I would have continued it.

Here we are 4 years on and no action taken - or am I wrong? Surely legislation to force companies to put a deposit on all bottles/tins etc could be introduced very quickly if the will was there?

Just back from my local church a few minutes ago and a new array of mineral tins had replaced those plastic bottles that I removed this morning!

When I was growing up back in the Dark Ages we used to collect bottles for the deposits and many a cinema visit or bags of chips were paid for with same. If the minster can't do something about it he/she should quit. Is it Alan Kelly at Environment or Heather Humphreys at Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs ? :mad:

CeilingFly

I think that is planned in the near future - may even be something in the budget about it.

Chinasea

No nothing indeed has happened. There was an opportunity back in 2013 for the Environment Minister of the time to have a serious look at implementing deposit return scheme, but it was dismissed for no good reasons and it just seemed that they was no momentum. Apathy rules.

I mentioned the scheme to one of the Sinn Fein campaigners when they came a knockin on my door before the last election. They moved swiftly on as I think they thought I was a nutter.

I firmly believe, if this scheme was implemented without the usual who ha, it would be a total success. Trouble is, we have no balls in this country to ever simply implement or change.

AndyBoBandy

Not only will a scheme like this help us all to recycle a little better, it will also encourage people to go cleaning up the bottles/cans of those who can't be arsed to recycle it themselves!

Anyone whose spent some time in America will have noticed people pushing around trolleys full of cans & bottles (mostly, but not exclusively poor/homeless people).
I've often seen people driving around in pick up trucks from door to door collecting people's bottles that were left outside for whoever wanted them!

$0.05 per bottle from a 6 pack might not be an incentive enough for someone to recycle, but when your collecting hundreds and hundreds of bottles (per day), suddenly it's a viable business.

I've no doubt that if/when a system like this is put in place, we will go to 100% recycling of cans/bottles within a matter of weeks.

Del.Monte

Yes, but will it ever be done or will it be pushed out to 2040 or some other equally farcical date?

Chinasea

Del.Monte wrote: »

Yes, but will it ever be done or will it be pushed out to 2040 or some other equally farcical date?

I fear just that.

two wheels good

Minister Denis Naughten rejected the proposals for a DRS recently, saying it could be a financial catastrophe.
(Is he prone to hyperbole? )

He also thinks:
- that Ireland has one of the highest drinks container recycling rates in the EU.
- a DRS would "collect an additional four of out 100 glass bottles and six out of every 100 plastics.”

Instead we'll send more plastics to incinerators I suppose

CJhaughey

I would hazard a guess and say just one word.
Repak.
They are the reason that supermarkets sell so much prepacked crap and are under no obligation to take it back.
https://www.repak.ie/for-business/joining-repak/self-compliance/
Look who is on the board:
http://www.repak.ie/about-us/board-members/

AndyBoBandy

two wheels good wrote: »

He also thinks:
- a DRS would "collect an additional four of out 100 glass bottles and six out of every 100 plastics.”

Great, as wouldn't that mean more revenue for the state coffers? a 'tax' if you will, on those ignorant enough not to recycle!

two wheels good

CJhaughey wrote: »

I would hazard a guess and say just one word.
Repak.
They are the reason that supermarkets sell so much prepacked crap and are under no obligation to take it back.
https://www.repak.ie/for-business/joining-repak/self-compliance/

Look who is on the board:
http://www.repak.ie/about-us/board-members/

Ha! So it's more a lobbying organisation .

CJhaughey

two wheels good wrote: »

Ha! So it's more a lobbying organisation .

Yes their reason for being is to shift the burden of recycling from their members to the public.

two wheels good

This topic was on the UK govt 's agenda earlier this year.
A few points from the media coverage I remember:
- Coca Cola have changed tack and now say DRS may be benefitial.
- only a tiny amount of recycled plastic (7% AFAIR) goes back into new drinks bottle manufacture because "consumers will not tolerate" the bottles which are not perfectly transparent.
- Coca Cola produce approx 100 billion disposable bottles per annum - according to Greenpeace. CC won't reveal the official figures.

More attention on the topic must be good news. The tide may be turning ... or is it just washing up more rubbish on the beach?

L1011

Del.Monte wrote: »

An old thread from 2013 here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056988634&page=2

Closed or I would have continued it.

Here we are 4 years on and no action taken - or am I wrong? Surely legislation to force companies to put a deposit on all bottles/tins etc could be introduced very quickly if the will was there?

Just back from my local church a few minutes ago and a new array of mineral tins had replaced those plastic bottles that I removed this morning!

When I was growing up back in the Dark Ages we used to collect bottles for the deposits and many a cinema visit or bags of chips were paid for with same. If the minster can't do something about it he/she should quit. Is it Alan Kelly at Environment or Heather Humphreys at Department of Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs ? :mad:

Alan Kelly hasn't been a Minister for 18 months. However, there is a Green/Labour co-bill to introduce container deposits working its way through now, and for the first time pretty much since the foundation of the state, sensible opposition bills are being allowed.

There's an odd side affect of this kind of legislation which can result in people going through bins to find anything with a deposit to return and make littering worse in isolated spots; but if the deposit is low enough and you have social welfare systems that work - most of the US does not - that should go away. Didn't see it happening in Denmark but I did in Oregon.

If the brewers could be got on-board like in the Netherlands, their system of reusable crates and washable bottles works very well - but with the bonkers publican-friendly minimum pricing bill proposed its likely that offsales of mass market beer are going to collapse anyway.

Chuchote

These money-back machines are the norm in Germany and Scandinavia. Crazy we don't have them here.

AndyBoBandy

Chuchote wrote: »

These money-back machines are the norm in Germany and Scandinavia. Crazy we don't have them here.

Same in Lithuania

unkel

Chuchote wrote: »

These money-back machines are the norm in Germany and Scandinavia. Crazy we don't have them here.[/IMG]

They introduced them in the Netherlands in the 80s. Pretty much every main supermarket has one.