The new recycling system

I’m with Thorntons too. I pay an annual service fee, and a fixed rate for each bin, the grey one being the most expensive. I don’t know if their fees vary from location to location, I’m from Newbridge.

Unless pubs and restaurants start sourcing cans and plastic bottles from a different source to small shops then it almost certainly will. Are you saying there's going to be an exemption for sales of containers without the logo and barcode?

Well what else are you trying to imply?

Where did you hear about that bag? Are re-turn going to collect these bags from every pub and restaurant in the country? Seems implausible so what's the reason for the bags?

This is from a PDF on how this scheme works for hospitality, no mention of pubs being given special bags to collect all the empty containers.

This excerpt is contrary to some of the recent information posted here. If a pub doesn't charge a deposit and the customer walks off with the container the pub loses the deposit they've paid themselves. So the deposit is added on when the drinks are first sold and the effectively passed along the sales chain, kind of like VAT, so you can't reclaim a deposit which was never paid because it's always paid at source.

As I said yesterday I’m new to this thread, so apologies if this factor has been raised before:

I have seen over the years ( with Thorntons) to crush bottles, flatten cardboard boxes so as not to waste space. As I understand this new system, the milk bottles & cans must be returned undamaged.

I also heard on the radio ( especially Liveline ) that some stores are not going to incur the cost of these returning machines, so will also stop stocking the foodstuffs in these containers - how a supermarket can stop stocking 2L milk is open to conjecture).

Where is the space going to appear? Or are these m/c’s going to crush the bottles/cans?

I don’t know but it just seems like more expense, when the green bin does the job as it is. The phrase ‘if it’s not broken why fix it’ springs to mind here.

Milk isn’t part of the scheme. All dairy is exempt.

Shops can do manual collections instead of having a machine.

Small retailers are exempt. Small defined as a store size of less then 250m2 (this excludes storage, offices etc), effectively just what the consumer can see.

In RVMs, containers are usually crushed. I have not seen that spec for Irish machines. I assume they will.

If a 250m2 store can’t find space for a unit, I don’t know what to say. What you heard is scaremongering. It’s predicted a store will break even on the costs after 7 years when the handling fee is taken into account.

The purpose of having 11 directors was to ensure that big and small producers and big and small retailers were represented. Then 3 independents to bring balance.

The biggest (of many failures) of the Scotland scheme was not bringing retailers on board. The majority of grocery and convenience retailers (some exceptions) got on board with the scheme in Ireland early.

For anyone interested, there are a couple of good articles in the Sunday Indo today. Both in the business pages.

Yes, thanks for sharing!

It doesn’t take 20 seconds per item. It’s far quicker than that. Nesty, as a random example, can do 45 items a minute. I doubt you can load them that quickly so you’re talking less than 5 minutes for €8.60 back. Your decision to reclaim it or not.

62 is a high number but I don’t know your family size. If you choose to reduce the number of plastic and aluminium containers, that’s great. Better for the environment.

The voucher will be valid the next day, the next week, or the next month. Of course you can go when it’s quiet and claim it at another times.

Couldn't they have tasked jobseekers or immigrants or whoever with that task for an hour a day, to give them a break from actively applying for roles?

This may disproportionately affect older people who might no longer drive and now will have to haul bags to their local supermarkets lest their few quid from the pension is hoovered up on them. A lot of same older people moved to free delivery schemes from the larger chains at off peak hours during covid and have continued with the convenience of not having to carry heavy bags.

Are you sure about that? regarding rvm crushing them. i mean does it say that anywhere or is this speculation?

i've seen a few of these RVM around with a feb 1st sticker over the bottle slot, but i've seen atleast 2 of these machines with a woodin bin yoke beside them, i'm assuming rejected bottles or unscannnables are meant to go in there i think i dunno.

but if the rvm crushes the thing instantly as soon as we put them in like you said its seems a bit fishy and fraudulent. Maybe it scans it and then decides to crush after verifying what it is? and maybe it rejects things without a barcode or without the same matching stuff needed. we can really only speculate and guess and assume here.

has anyone even seen a can or bottle with the return logo on it yet? i want to see what it looks like. i recall reading something about someone buying a can of drink up near the north with the logo on it and their missus crushing the can. i would like to see what a can looks like with the logo Before feb 1st if possible.

i have a strange feeling, a slight hunch that the machine will accept cans and plastic bottles i'm hoping, but they just say "has to have our special label on it, and only things purchased after launches on feb 1st will be accepted" as a sort of spoof to stop hoarders proffitting and gaming the thing. imagine that for a conspiracy lol, lying about the cans needing the logo thing through wording. i realize its a reach, but its an outcome i'd like

Obviously you can't afford to throw away €8.70 each week.

There will be a transition time from February.

You may find it suitable to change shopping habits to try to reduce the number of returnables.

For instance 5 liter water bottles are exempt.

Also perhaps you could replace some cans with glass bottles.

It is going to be more inconvenient but once the transition period is over there will be no escaping the deposit.

Long gone.

I have piles of cans with the logo on them already - both Galway Bay Brewery and Vocation (English brewery) appear to have them on the bulk of their stock that's in shops now. The GBB ones started turning up in August!

i wonder if theres a way people will find out how to cheat the machine or print out stickers with the logo on it. i love the mischief things and getting up to mischief. i've read some posts on here and other places about people years ago bringing back glass bottles and then climbing over the wall of the shop to get the same glass bottles back. Hilarious stuff!

i know the rope on the bottle trick wont work in these machines, but its funny to imagine it