Deposit return scheme (recycling)

The days are coming back in February and the rest is irrelevant.

There was a consultation period on this years ago. That was the time to complain

It is part of the answer and works very effectively in the large number of places that already do it

October 2020. It was advertised at the time

Seeing as you seem to have only heard of the scheme right now, weeks before it starts and after huge amounts of news and ads, I don't think you keep up to date very much

What's to stop me taking a photo of the new logo, then printing it out onto stickers that I apply to cans and bottles that I will buy up North?? Then claim 15c back on each?

I find even that one point difficult to follow. Systems like this have been operating for decades in other countries. I myself used it in Germany from the late 1990s until I emigrated to Ireland in 2012. It might require a bit of short-term adjustment on the parts of some people, but that's the case every time something new is brought in and if anything, it looks like the Irish system will be easier to use than the German one, where every chain (REWE, EDEKA, Lidl, Aldi) operated its own system that only accepted their own bottles, and yes, some went so far as to get their own bottles from the distributor so they could lock their customers in.

But even with that, it wasn't really an issue. I used to do my big weekend shop on Saturday morning, as did my parents, and would usually take my used bottles back to the shop, drop them off first thing to get the voucher, and then would just do my regular shop, using the voucher right then and there. My parents did the same thing, as did loads of other people. And compared to Germany, you won't have to drag crates of empty glass bottles back, which can get really heavy after a time. Just get a fold-out crate or two, drop your empty bottles in there during the week and by the time you get to your weekly shop, you'll have them all ready to return without hassle. And you'll have something to drop your groceries in.

In fairness that particular poster (and obviously we have to take them at their word) lives in a rural area such that he/she does not have a convenient/local shop, and also doesn't have a car. Added to the fact that they are already a fervent recycler, then they are getting hit badly by this scheme.

However, only incredibly small subset of people in this country would be affected this way, and their travails doesn't mean an actual flaw in the system.

Any idea how this type of exceptional situation was handled in Germany?

Oh right. Back in the olden days when there were zero "recycling centres" (which imo should also be fully funded through taxes, no charge) and zero bottle/drinks cans banks and no one took back your old electrical appliances.

That situation would have been exceedingly unlikely in Germany, simply because settlement patterns in Germany are so different from the ones here in Ireland. You don't have anywhere close to the amount of one-off-housing you have here in Ireland. Most people will have their houses in villages, towns or cities. The ones that do live completely out in the countryside will usually be farmers and will likely have more than one car, out of sheer necessity.

I think in the long run, retailers will have to find a way to integrate this into their order & delivery processes. The simplest solution would be to add a check mark "Collect empty bottles" or something along those lines to the online shopping portals of SuperValu or Tesco. With third party shopping services such as BuyMie, this could get a bit more complicated, as deliveries there are handled by people with their private cars, but even there, I don't see it as a major stumbling stone.

Public consultation is a complete waste of time engaging with. Government goes out to the public during a limited and usually poorly advertised window seeking opinions that it goes on to completely disregard anyway.

Public consultation is policy-washing.

Did you have a waste collection service that included recycling in Germany?

Yes, separate bins and collections for general recyclables, paper & cardboard, glass (that couldn't be recycled via supermarkets, vegetable jars, etc.), general rubbish, and biological rubbish/compost. The only difference compared to Ireland is that there was one company for everything. The local municipality would contract bin collection out to a company which would then do it for every private & commercial premises in that particular area. That could be either a private company, such as in the place where I lived, or it could be a public utility company, such as in nearby Frankfurt.

EDIT: One thing that developed in Germany, partially because of this, was that larger supermarkets in particular started opening dedicated "Getränkemärkte", separate stores on the same premises as the main store that were entirely dedicated to selling and taking back drinks of all types. I'm not sure, when, or indeed if, this is going to happen here in Ireland, especially since the "Pfand" system in Germany is a lot more extensive, but over time, we might see that happen. All German supermarkets in my area still stocked drinks in their regular stores as well, the "Getränkemarkt" usually served those who were looking for large packs of drinks, like crates of beer bottles, lemonade, or the infamous 6 x 2l water bottle packs.

That's the way it was in Germany. The machine printed out a coupon that you could then either use on your next shop, or exchange for cash in-store. If you had enough of the stuff, you could get a nice little stack of money, I think my record stood at 35€, which was even more in the early 2010s than it is today. More typically, it was 5-10€ for me, although my parents regularly cracked the 40€ mark, thanks to my dad's penchant for beer and the relatively high deposit on glass beer bottles and crates.

Mind you, I had to drag all of my bottles back to the store on foot since I didn't have a car (still don't), though at least I had the luxury of having a REWE, Lidl & Aldi all within a kilometer of my place.

Damaged means distorted barcode,can or bottle crushed,flattened.Lidl have paying for recycling for over a year in certain branches-will miss it next Febuary.10c for 100ml,330ml,500ml cans or bottles(500ml cans get rejected),also,1 and 2 litre bottles.Most beer,cider,mixer,cans get rejected.A good training for the public.Lidl takes the lid.Local council recycling say remove the lid.

I can definitely understand your perspective on that, and I think it will have to come down to retailers offering to take back empty bottles when customers place an online order. Do you have any friends, family members or colleagues in the vicinity who might be willing to lend a hand in the meantime, to minimize the impact?