They lied’: plastics producers deceived public about recycling, report reveals

Repak was always an absolute see through cop out.

Companies need to tax taxed on their packaging, hard.

Not, directly, at the till but as a percentage of turnover.

PET bottles are just about the only high demand plastic recycling stream. This new deposit nonsense is taking them, along with aluminium cans out of domestic recycling bins. It has been worth sorting everything when there is known valuable materials in there but now the sorting of domestic recycling streams has been rendered much less viable. Domestic refuse collection can only get more expensive as a result of this.

Recycling should be secondary to a reduction in the use of plastic though. If recycling was not seen to be effective then there would be a greater call for the reduction. But that would mean less €€€ for the plastics companies.

We should be using re useable containers for products.

For example- you want another batch of fresh orange juice? Bring your empty 2L glass bottle with screw on cap to the shopping centre and refill from a large vat of fresh orange juice.

Same for mi wadis, milk, carbonated drinks etc.

Ya want more corn flakes? Bring your container and fill them up at shopping centre.

It’s very simple, give PP for example you could purchase that depending on the grade and quantity for approx 2 euro per kg for virgin. With regrind it has to be collected, possible sterilisation process, sorting process usually water baths, material is then either shredded or pelletised.

The density of certain materials are similar but have a different melt temperature making it a difficult process, PET is unique hence why it is easily recyclable.

if you look at a product there are numerous materials within, that’s why at times rather than segregating the materials it is easier to see how they react with each and make a product out of them.

Valuable materials such as Aluminium and PET have been covering the costs of sorting and recovering other materials. These other materials are much more likely to find new uses when they are already recovered than if they are aggregated with other low value materials. Removing Aluminium and PET from green bins will make recovery of other materials more expensive.

Let them oass it on but keep hitting it as a percentage of turnover.

It has to get to a point where it hurts.

Why are onions sold wrapped in plastic mesh? If they MUST be wrapped why not cardboard strings.

Drinks companies started shrink wrapping cans instead of a cardboard wrap, a while back.

Bread has no reason to be wrapped in plastic.

Chocolate bars

Big box items packed with plastic stuffed boxes etc.

Styrofoam is everywhere. Should never be legal to send out

Doing nothing (ie Repak) is not working

Reduce, reuse, recycle.

Don't think the govt have ever really tried to enforce the reduce part of that.

We all know (give out about) products that have far too much packaging Biscuits don't need to be in plastic trays, wash for windshields should be in concentrate not ready mixed etc - govt needs to put crippling levies on this practice, the product should be examined and evaluated for the min packaging needed, if the company making it uses more, then they can pay generously for the extra.

Respectfully, while this is a perfectly valid suggestion on boards.ie on a casual Friday morning, it's not a viable suggestion when you're crafting policy. If anything, telling people upon hearing that they've been essentially 'duped' into the labour of sorting plastics and papers and washing out yoghurt pots for the last couple of decades that they should suck it up and get ready for higher costs to fix the problem seems like a very good way to make sure that you end up in the mid-term future with a government that does not prioritise environmental issues at all.

As for the rest, I'd largely agree. I don't know if there are preservative reasons for any of the things you stated (though I do know that your bread is more likely to get mouldy if you leave it in plastic). But the key is going to be making sure that the convenience and price of items remains mostly the same for consumers, which will only happen if governments take action that will benefit both companies and consumers, like maybe a x% tax rebate/credit for companies that use more then 95% (or 100%) recyclable/biodegradable packaging etc. (with 'recyclable' and 'biodegradable' tightly defined and tested).

No that would be ridiculous

The same EU that just backed down on agricultural emissions because of farmer protests?

Top-down brute-force efforts on environmental issues seem extremely unwise, to me.

Anything from €9.29 upward for 20 0.5l bottles plus 0.08c deposit on each bottle and €1.50 deposit on the crate

https://www.rewe.de/produkte/original-oettinger-export-20x0-5l/3733289

No that’s not ridiculous.

Bring your containers and refill them there at the shop.

No waste.

It's just not practical for most people, and stores that do provide this service currently are quite small and specialist, i.e. a LOT more expensive than Lidl/Aldi etc.

Do you really think that in a cost of living crisis as we have now that families who are struggling to pay the bills are willing to add up to 50% extra for organic veg etc. etc. ?

It's a discussion forum.

I asked a gentleman who lived in Germany how much a crate of beer is.

You decided to answer for him.

Now you are upset for some reason.

So make it government/EU law that all stores have to provide this service.

If we were serious about reducing plastic this is what would happen- but we aren’t so it won’t.

Make it law to supply more expensive goods in all stores? Sure that will be popular with the voters!

Someone bringing their own packaging to Refill stores will use hard plastic containers anyways that will have to be replaced sooner than later as they will stain/break etc.

I make some effort to put only recyclables in the recyclables bin because I'm afraid some irate binman will knock on the door and kick my head in for non compliance.

I don't wash out stuff though as I don't think mr binman will notice.

Know lots of people who fire everything into the recycling bin to save on pay by weight. Could be anything from nappies to used engine oil in there.

Losing you money and losing Dealz money. Are the machines crap, were they not tested, do the staff not know what to do with them... rollout has been a complete mess. Re-turn doing SFA to justify their existence and "rent seeking".

Buckets of lentils from a silo? How much aqua cola will we be allowed?

None only buckets of pulses. Bring your own bucket.