Deposit return scheme (recycling) - Part 2

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122531922#Comment_122531922

Not been in Mr Price but I have seen one in Dealz, but it wasn't plugged in.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122531922#Comment_122531922

According to their website… All Mr.PRICE stores will offer Manual Returns.
Given their size they wouldn't have an exemption.

However, having been into the stores, I didn't see any signage indicating that in store, or anyone attempting one.

https://www.mrprice.ie/re-turn-scheme/

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122531410#Comment_122531410

If the machines are not working, demand a manual return. Re-Turn have confirmed they have to take manual if the machines are not working. Do not let them turn you away.

This is much easier said than done, in fairness, especially when the shop you demand take a manual return in is the one you shop in every day. I can see a situation whereby an altercation over whether a manual return is refused/demanded being very uncomfortable for the shopper in the long run.

patnor1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122532424#Comment_122532424

In other words the house always wins? And you would be hauling your empties back home only to not to irritate staff who refuse to do what they are supposed to do.

No to that in my case. I was lucky so far that machines were always working but I am not going back with empties if they will be offline. The staff already knows me as I am consistently dumping all bottles and cans over there no matter where I bought them and cashing out vouchers. That shop is closest to where I live and even though I do shop there only once a week it is convenient location for returning empties.

I am not being pr1ck. I am always polite but firm. It is my money which I want back. Simple.

jj880

A lot of the theory on Re-Turn.ie is fanciful at best. By the time someone gets as far as manual return they're probably already demented with storing containers, sh!t RVMs, OOO RVMs, humping containers around and other such frustrating, time wasting Re-Turn activities. It's a percentages game that's working well for the deposit slush fund.

Archeron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122530779#Comment_122530779

Genuine question, but why is it plausible they are most likely doing the right thing?

In my eyes, they have not done a single thing right with this since the beginning.

The announcement, the implementation, the PR, the cost increases, the expectant attitude, the usurping of the actual waste companies on material, being shady with numbers, being shady with salaries, being patronising whenever in the media, deleting negative social media comments, refusing to respond to enquiries or dismissing them then outright lying about that fact on radio by telling us to get in touch and they'll assist, the reduction of choice as some products removed from sale, the list of things not done right is quite long.

But for me its the hugely negative environmental impact and the fact that they quite openly couldn't give a sh*t about housebound or disabled people that really irks.

And every single thing they've done wrong, with incorrect charges at the beginning, bottles not being read etc, is being paid for by money stolen directly from the public. During a cost of living crisis.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122533002#Comment_122533002

Genuine answer.

If you read back you'll see that was in response to suggestions that plastic collected by the DRS might be incinerated.

Do you believe that the people capable of the rap sheet you compiled would be stupid enough to risk it all by doing something dodgy with the recyclate ?

My experience of life and how the world works says no they wouldn't.

Of course I could be wrong but then again so could the accusers.

We will eventually get the truth.

Archeron

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122533179#Comment_122533179

Yes, i do believe they could risk it, because time and time again we have seen in this country that even when you get caught, at the right level, there will be no consequences.

Look at the Rte thread for a perfect example, gross mismanagement, horrible behaviour, and rewarded with an even bigger bag of public money.

The difference here is people are asking questions now rather than waiting twenty years for an expose in a newspaper because we are absolutely sick of being fleeced for absolutely everything.

Ten years ago we all believed that recyclables we put in our green bin were being recycled, but lo and behold much of it was being incinerated. Its only right that Re-Turn are absolutely transparent in the wake of that.

The government could have sorted this years ago and didn't, and now we're paying for it by being beholden to a third party that has made an absolute hames of every single aspect.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122533289#Comment_122533289

I'll stick with my assessment of the situation.

By the way, I have no problem with holding Re-turn to account for any wrongdoing they are proven to have committed.

beachhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122529957#Comment_122529957

Asian countries have said they do not want any more of it,clothing included.

beachhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122530096#Comment_122530096

I want to know where.I can arm wrestle anyone for those bags of cans,haha

beachhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122530545#Comment_122530545

The manufacturers of products generate the plastic.Irish consumers cannot dictate the wrapping.Just my opinion.

beachhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122532247#Comment_122532247

Never seen a machine in 3 Dealz I been in

patnor1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122533179#Comment_122533179

But what they do have is not recyclate. As far as we know for the plastics they collect they truck everything to Limerick where it is compressed and baled.

Material is not separated (bottles still contain cap, cap ring and label which are made from different plastics and cant be recycled together) and it is not separated by colour which is also desirable if you want to maximize revenue. Perhaps they are not concerned about is since they do have quite a lot of our money to play with plus aluminum windfall.

patnor1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122534127#Comment_122534127

Oh but they can. It is actually quite easy. If enough people stop buying stuff in plastic, change will come quite fast

jj880

Is this the baling factory in Limerick?

https://www.lpp.ie/

At the moment their videos show baling up and loading into lorries. Plenty of verbage about how their bales of plastic are "recycle ready" but no info on where it goes or what happens to it.

They do say they have plans to build a pellet producing plant in future which is encouraging. Ive seen these pellets being used for making fishing nets in my locality. However if that is part of the plan for our deposits why not just come out and say it and give a timeframe?

Something tells me Re-Turn dont want to be accountable on timeframe or how the deposit fund is managed. There'll be plenty at the trough looking for their share first.

LambshankRedemption

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122534827#Comment_122534827

Considering the bulk of the population live on the east coast, from an environment point of view, what sense does it make to send the DRS plastic to Limerick to be baled up, and then presumably back to the east coast to go on ferries if its being sent out of the country for recycling?

It's almost like the entire scheme was not fully thought out?

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122534768#Comment_122534768

Apologies, I should have said recyclables.

Thanks for the correction.

The rest of my post stands.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122534869#Comment_122534869

Perhaps they are using Limerick Dock or Foynes Port.

https://www.sfpc.ie/terminals/limerick-docklands/

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122534779#Comment_122534779

People could stop buying stuff in plastic but it's not easy.

A large part of the supermarket shopping model depends on single use plastic.

It is problematic from an environmental standpoint but delivers advantages in convenience and food hygiene.

beachhead

Should be added that it is largely a first world consideration(single use plastics) as most in the 2nd,3rd or get to the 4th world have other problems to worry about and their governments don't care too much about "the on the ground" situation.

Darwin

So yesterday I went to my local Aldi with my bag of cans and despite both machines being operational, it was very difficult to make a return for a completely different reason - wasps all over the place! One of my cans was rejected which the wasps took a liking too and getting it out of the machine was tricky without getting stung. Retailers should really come up with a solution for this (maybe a wasp nest decoy) even if the problem is only seasonal.

Senature

I would be on the side of feeling that we are lucky to be in a position where there is some management of single use plastics. Poorer countries suffer massive levels of pollution from these. An organisation called the ocean clean up have placed barriers on several rivers around the globe to capture plastics and other rubbish before it reaches the ocean. Their videos on SM or YouTube are eye opening and shocking. It's worth bearing in mind that this is likely how things would look anywhere that waste is not managed.

Of course I would prefer that manufacturers were under a lot more pressure to reduce plastic packaging. In recent years there was a push on this with Easter Eggs for example. It was amazing to see how quickly most companies eliminated the plastic element of their packaging.

I use the Return machine every week or two and put an average of 5-6 items in it before I do the shopping and immediately redeem the voucher. I find it hard to understand why it is a big deal for most people who are fit, able bodied etc.

patnor1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122537808#Comment_122537808

There is not much of a management of single use plastics. There is company recently set up which is designed in a way it can never fail no matter what they do. Curiously nobody seems to know how they actually "manage" single use plastics since they refuse to say.

To compare us with third world is rather lazy attempt to pretend we are much better in managing the waste. You seems to not to be aware that EU collect only about a third of single use plastic waste and half of that is being exported to said third world countries. Therefore a lot of that pollution you attribute to poor management in third world countries is actually our waste we dumped in their backyard. There is an estimate that that illegal exportation is about the same volume of the legal one if not more.

In other words we are currently "managing" plastic waste in a fashion that:

-2/3 of our plastic waste is ending up in landfill, incinerator and illegal export

-1/6th is being legally exported

-1/6th is recycled and material recovered

Senature

Not sure why you seem compelled to describe one of my points as 'lazy' - it's OK for people to have different points of view. I never suggested we are great at waste management here, the link is an example of a waste management problem in a poor nation. There is not one place in Ireland that I am aware of having a waste management issue that even vaguely resembles this. Hence my point.

Also can you advise what happens to the two thirds of single use plastic waste that you claim the EU does not collect, because I don't see this waste anywhere that I go day to day.

https://youtu.be/DZ32lSQjWU0?si=6q9tfgHlvFTwQhVU

PEACEBROTHER

image.jpg

What is this ? Sticker over barcode with symbol on it 😳. Will this work for deposit return ?

Atlantic Dawn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122539224#Comment_122539224

Once the barcode is on the list for accepted items it will work, regardless of how the sticker came to be on the can.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122539224#Comment_122539224

You can check the sticker barcode here -

https://re-turn.ie/consumer/

PEACEBROTHER

just checked it can be returned.

I take back everything I said to myself when I spotted it 🤣

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122539279#Comment_122539279

Where did you buy it ?

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122537808#Comment_122537808

If you read the thread and the previous thread, you'll get an idea pretty quickly why many posters are not very happy with a new system being foisted on them. In summary: increased work, we mostly already pay for and used a perfectly good scheme to do the same thing, increased cost of existing system, difficulties for house bound and incapacitated citizens, no sense of any value except that some people have profited working on the scheme and for manufacturers/ distributors/ maintenance staff of RV machines.

c2r

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122535246#Comment_122535246

A bit of a tangent, but plastic is an interesting one, environmentally, because it is very lightweight, relatively strong, and doesn't take up a lot of space. The square tetrapacks are even better for stacking - so if you're transporting a lorry load of bottles, you'll use far less CO2 in shipping costs by shipping plastic cubes rather than glass bottles. As with the scheme, and many other things in life, there are all sorts of unintended consequences that could, and should be considered when trying to determine government policies..

Of course, plastic obviously takes forever to biodegrade, and without it I wouldn't be picking it up off the beach all the time… :(

TheChizler

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122541242#Comment_122541242

For food in general I know transport is one of the smaller components of overall CO2 emissions, what's usually much more important is what the food actually is and how it is produced. I suspect the same might be true for packaging. I say this with no evidence though, would be interesting to have the time to do some research on it

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122530544#Comment_122530544

There is no proof they are not being recycled

Tony EH

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122537808#Comment_122537808

I find it hard to understand why it is a big deal for most people who are fit, able bodied etc.

Because it's been extremely badly implemented, been nothing but a pain in the arse & has also resulted in bin charges going up.

dxhound2005

I hope the cleanup got a bit of money for the charities.

https://re-turn.ie/aviva-stadium-and-levy-ireland-announce-return-for-children-support-from-aer-lingus-football-classic-match/

beachhead

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122542137#Comment_122542137

Well maybe

jc77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122539224#Comment_122539224

I got a can of coke from a chipper which had this sticker on it, but the writing on the can was Polish.

PEACEBROTHER

bought in a Chinese takeaway

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122543162#Comment_122543162

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122543475#Comment_122543475

Whoever is importing it from Poland will have paid to have it included in DRS as required by legislation.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122542983#Comment_122542983

It's a win win.

The containers get collected and the charity gets some funding.

patnor1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122541725#Comment_122541725

Sure.

But if that company which is so invested in recycling and recovery really recycling them they would be proudly declaring it everywhere.

Since they point blank refuse to disclose where plastic waste ends up Occam's razor suggests that the best and fastest way to get rid of it is in a Poolberg.

patnor1011

There was some talk about North so I gave it a go. My Sunday was pretty hectic but all 7 shops we visited were within a few kilometers.

There is not much of a difference in prices apart from petrol, alcohol and painkillers bit cheaper than here. I noticed that I was not the only one, half the cars on car park were irish reg.

I managed to find my favourite Pink Soda in 1l bottles which is nowhere to find last few months and curiously enough not only that it was cheaper it also came in bottles with return logo so I guess I saved exchange rate conversion by getting 25c extra when I return bottles.

I got few pretty sweet deals as I loaded car full with 500ml sparkling water bottles without deposit charged plus stuff like 72 of 330ml cans of soft drinks for 25£ which is a price one cant find even in expired items shelf. Our waste disposal company will get some free aluminium which return took from them and I do not have to fumble with them at a machine.

Oh and cat got something too, sheeba 40 pouches multipack which is 26-28euro in dunnes was only 15£. I got so many I told my wife that if he gets run over by a car I will kill him again.

dxhound2005

Did you notice the Not for EU labels?

patnor1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122543938#Comment_122543938

No I did not because there are none.

All it says is Registered for deposit in ROI. Empty pack redeemable for 25c in ROI only.

Upon checking barcode on rescam site it is accepted so happy days for everyone who buys them over there and try to save environment and try to save us from those pesky fines for not complying with targets… 🤑

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122543894#Comment_122543894

Home Bargains is the best value NI shop I like to frequent.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122543938#Comment_122543938

😅

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122543894#Comment_122543894

I but cat food in Lidl or Aldi just cans not pouches. 12 cans are less than 6 euro if I remember right

patnor1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122544405#Comment_122544405

I know. I tried those and every other under the sun. It resulted in him not touching it. I said let him be, hunger will teach him but to no avail. Even if he ate some he vomited it out after while. Sheba pouches are the only thing he eats and even those have to be fine flakes variety as other type even though it is the same brand ends up on various places in neat stinky piles. There is no worse feeling like stepping in a pile of cat vomit when you go to WC in the night.

So that particular type is 26-28 euro for 40 pouches multipack in Dunnes or few pet shops and for same reason only 15£ in the North. I know it is expensive and while he is driving me nuts I have no heart to get rid of him.

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122544454#Comment_122544454

Our cat eats this stuff:

https://home.bargains/product/1dd02ad2-b24a-4459-a214-7cb44c3ae776/go-cat-adult-chicken-and-duck-dry-cat-food-2kg

He obviously doesnt have a sophisticated palate but suits me at £5 for 2kg 😆

Ive been noticing a lot more drinks with the Re-Turn logo in Home Bargains recently. Fanta has it is very cheap and we would drink a lot of it.

patnor1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122544754#Comment_122544754

That show you how well thought out plan we implemented. A lot of soft drinks are made in NI and company do not care. They are shooting themselfes in a foot by selling marked stuff up North as people in NI may start collecting them to cash in when they pop in South. It is like free money for them. I suppose that rescam do not care either as it seems a lot of people simply do not claim deposit back which most likely was the plan all along.

On a cat side note, our eats dry food too those whiskas bags which are about 10e here and we got few for 5£ in NI too.