The new recycling system

i've been out and about quite abit lately, and have'nt seen any re-turn cans or bottlers whatsoever yet. Shops may have received their stock of re-turn cans but choosing not to put out those cans/bottles in an attempt to try selling off their non-returned-labeled inventory. Some i imagine won't put these return cans out until feb 1st, some might do before then not sure. And some will wait till june 1st apparently. June 1st is when everywhere should have them for sale no exceptions, feb 1st is when the machines go live. Some cans have made their way into store shelves already, a person in this thread had previously posted a picture of a can they got with the return logo on it.

Ahh ok , I taught they could sell new stock but not charge the extra till Feb 1st ..

This scheme only covers a small percentage of recyclable items. In 2024 with advances in technology, I can’t help but think that time/effort/money would have been better spent improving the sorting of items at the recycling centres. The potential yields are far higher.

We already recycle huge amounts – my blue bin is crammed every collection. All we are doing here is pre-sorting some recyclable items and going through an extra long process of returning them.

There is an environment and financial cost to this, including…

• Cost of the reverse vending machine itself.
• Cost to run the machine (electricity & maintenance).
• Loss of revenue to the store (lost floor space).
• Cost of advertising and promoting the scheme to consumers.
• Cost of collecting recyclables – additional vans on the road and staff.
• Cost to all consumers - extra “deposit” charge on items (even if not possible for consumer to easily return).
• Loss of space around the home/shed/garden to store these items.

For me, at this moment in time for me – the scheme just doesn’t make sense. It’s doing something just to be seen to be green.

The person that previously posted their can with the logo on it, had claimed to got it august of 2023.

I Don't expect all shops to sell off their non-return logo stock first, i expect some shops to be still selling it during feb and march. Some may even sell it alongside the re-turn logo stock, but at a different price, not just in terms of deposit vs non-deposit, but also for the sake of clearing non-return logo stock.

Some suppliers have been sending out re-turn logo stock for months now, Vocation and Galway Bay Brewery are two you'll likely find in a normal offo already

EXACTLY!! the whole thing is a scam, masquerading under the illusion of caring about the environment when really its just a numbers game. They only want the quick easy fast recyclables they can make money from. recycle themselves, and give the government the numbers they want to show in the faces of the EU for number of units recycled, target being reached. Its political virute signalling essentially, but at the cost of the consumers who benefit in now way possible from the scheme and only break even at best (due to deposits and no real reward being offered like previously). ALSO the scheme does'nt go live until feb 1st, yet 100s of machines across the country are sitting their idle and turned on, fully powered up for nothing and wasting eletric.

The Claire Byrne show went well.

All the questions asked by Claire and listeners were answered.

Worth listening 🎧 back to.

I'll post a link when it goes up.

Considering these schemes have existed, with logo requirements, in EU member states for decades; I'd be pretty sure theres no basis for taking a cross border trade case.

They shouldn't be.

https://re-turn.ie/wp-content/uploads/Re-turn-Retailer-Need-To-Know-.pdf (top of page 2)

That sounds bizarre and as you say anti-cross EU border trade

Thats not entirely true, i've had to put some items back a few times due to the writing on them not listing ingredients in english, because of allergies for other people i buy things for. its usually places like [removed for legal reasons] the places that sell things cheaper than the regular well established super markets. Some of them are even populor franchises that came to ireland from other outside countries and built businessmen here, or expanded into here.

yeah true there's probebly nothing stopping a supplier in Germany registering with ReTurn, but its a pain the hole and they have to pay extra maybe?

Return already tried last year and it was hard enough getting the irish suppliers onboard so far. Scheme was meant to go live january 1st 2023

They could reach higher recycling targets if this scheme didnt involve having re-turn logo on their items. its really becoming a nuisense and picky.

Theres so much cans gonna go to waste (or go in the regular recycling bins). Are return gatekeeping can access or something?

increased numbers faster basically, and other recycleables not going to waste or sold overseas is the upside.

98% of the producting being registered are their numbers, i'm hoping they're numbers is truth. i guess time will tell. either way good luck to them and their scheme, but at the same time shame on them for making us pay deposits lol

Ciaran Foley obviously doing the rounds. I'll listen to Claire Byrne show later. I thought yesterday's interview with Conor Pope of the Irish Times was reasonably soft too, figure that Conor may have copied and pasted the FAQs at the end.

The article is paywalled so I just clip what I thought was the most interesting bit.

"Another development coming down the tracks will see Ireland taking care of its own recycling needs. In times past, we shipped much of our plastic and aluminium to Asia, where it was supposedly recycled. We say supposedly because much of the material was not properly handled. In more recent times, our recyclable rubbish has had to stay within the EU, but in a few years we will be recycling it ourselves, Foley says.

A local plant needs about 15,000 tonnes of plastics each year to make it viable and the new scheme should more than meet that level – so a tendering process is coming for an indigenous plant. “Once that’s built it means producers will be getting their product, putting it on the market, it will be recycled, and the same producers will then buy that material again – it’s the circular economy and that’ll be a big win for Ireland.”"

Imagine! Producers and Retailers all expected to invest and change to a deadline, costing hundreds of millions of Euros. The consumers having to radically change how they manage their waste and recycle. The waste management business being disenfranchised overnight of millions of high value items.

Meanwhile, the body behind all this hasn't secured a plant in the state to handle it all, and will presumably be exporting our waste until it does. Slightly undermines the green values if the waste has to be exported and the reimported in order to be 'circular'.

Does anyone know the answer not asked by Conor Pope: Where is all this recycling going?