The new recycling system

I doubt they'll get much plaudits from the EU, most EU countries have a similar scheme implemented, we're mostly playing catch-up with the EU

Like the smoking ban, nobody gave Spain a pat on the back for being one of the last to implement it

I didn't hear the Irish population whinging at the Govt to introduce the RVMs. Only reason this is being done now is to get the craved after pat on the back IMO.

Waste is paid for by property tax in NI, which is significantly higher than here.

You can 'thank' 1970s FF and also the PDs love of pointless competition in natural monopolies for it being a paid for private thing down here

NI will have a DRS in 2026 (they are still saying 25 but they wont make that)

while in theory thats true, i still see plastic bags on the streets and in parks and places, just not as many but still enough to be noticed.

its unfair though that the already dutiful citizens, the ones who recycle at home are basically being taxed with deposit loss now if they choose to continue recycling at home. So while the deposits may be incentivising new people to consider actually recycling (due to hitting their pockets) they're also hitting a bunch of people that already recycle. There really needs to be something in place so that people who recycle at home don't get stung as much from this. it would be funny and great if bin companies arranged a scheme with re-turn where people who recycle at home get atleast half of their deposit money given back to them. Seems a bit more fair if something like this got implemented.

Price increase based punishments don't always work. There's a couple of examples i care not to mention including sugar tax and dog litter fines, but dogpoo is still around. Even in bags left behind.

Fines in general are like "ah thats fine aslong as you have the money to pay for it you can do it and get away with it, aslong as you can afford it" and doesnt actually stop the behavior. Even prison system (perfect punishment based example) people get a fine and slap on the wrist and back out doing stuff again. We really need to stop with the fines lark and price punishment schemes. They don't work and the people who intend on breaking them don't care. Even green tax, another money making scam!

All this stuff summed up as "you can continue doing this aslong as you pay us, aslong as we make money from you doing it, its all good".

If it stops the crowd going to the beach and leaving a mess of cans and bottles down there , they might now bring them to get their deposit back . Another thing i see is the amount of bottles and cans in the hedges or they have money to burn.

Sugar tax probably worked. I say probably because there were other factors, but demand for and supply of sugary drinks have both shifted since 2017 fairly significantly.

I think you raised MUP before as another dud and I definitely doubt that that worked in any meaningful way. But the reason was the gap was bigger, drink v abstinence, with sugar tax it was substituting like for like.

With DRS its money back or give money away or stop consuming. Some may do the latter but not too many

Rates dont fund waste/recycling only.

We pay for waste/recycling here also.

I shouldn't have said "for free". Let me rephrase. In NI you have the choice not to be charged up front then queue like a gulpin at a machine to get your money back as a voucher. You can choose how you recycle without getting charged for it twice if you want to use your recycling wheelie bin.

people who drank sugary drinks for the most part still continued to do so regardless of the price increase, while others found/made use of exploiting the loophole of diet sodas and zero sugar/sugar free alternatives. In the end companies started making changes to the drinks they sell by having lesser quality no sugar versions of them to get around this tax. No one changed their lifestyle as a result of this tax, and those that continued to drink sugary versions just only paid extra. So essentially the tax was something (a problem) that got profited from.

Things like "Green Tax" do the same, gives companies permission to keep polluting the earth as long as the government get their cut of the money.

It is only plastic bottles, likely the bottles you are seeing are glass - so won't make a difference.

Doubtful if a majority of those drinking like that will be that bothered to be bringing cans or plastic bottles back, and back to where. Their parents gaff?

Fair enough. Link for that? I would like to compare how identical they are / will be.

Do you agree with this scheme and how it will operate?

It hasn't got a scheme website yet, but these are all copy/paste. Probably the only difference will be what the deposit is.

These systems work, so yes.

The same opposition from bin companies etc exists in the UK too - nothing is unique in this!

Yes, because there'll all skint and at least one of them will want the cash.

Can you remember being a teenager?

The breadth of my knowledge of Irish media is listening to Today FM in the office. Without Boards I wouldn’t have a clue. I’m sure there are plenty in the same boat.

Not as many because every gust of wind nowadays is given a name and shrieking loopers are given airtime about them.

Here’s a picture that highlights the absolute madness of the weather now VS only 7 years ago. Collecting cans isn’t gonna get the loopers back into the asylum.