Deposit return scheme (recycling)

Yes it's true, they could of course go ahead and incinerate them. However to me it would be a massive waste to have put so much effort into the collection to then not recycle them.

I think it's logical to assume they will eventually be recycled

I'm estimating there's about €350million euro being collected yearly in deposits. If the powers that be had just come out and said we're sticking 15c on each bottle as a recycling tax would there have been huge uproar? They could have used some of that money to incentivise the waste companies who collect the green bins to make sure the plastics and cans are separated out and recycled properly. The waste companies could incentivise users to recycle more through their pricing plans - eg subsidised credits if your green bin usage is higher than black bin etc. The remainder of the money could have been given to the county councils to fund better recycling such as green bins on streets or near shops.

I'd love to see how much of that €350 million is being used to run this return scheme which looks like it is so bad that it's in danger of making things worse through some people giving up on recycling. Not to mention the energy and fuel used by the machines and servicing them.

We seem to have put in a brand new system when there was a decent system (green bins) in place already and just expected the whole population to buy into something that really inconveniences them. The Irish public are pretty good at taking to new inititiatives (the smoking ban, plastic bags etc) but there's a point where people look at this scheme and say "that just doesn't make sense, I'm out".

I am one hundred per cent sure that if they had simply put on a 15c tax on each can (included in the price, not this nonsense of calculating your own total at the checkout) by now we would have all accepted it. They could have ringfenced the tax take for recycling, and some good might actually have come of all this.

And were it not for greed and greenbeanery this was the perfect opportunity to do just that. I would have fully supported this scheme at four times the deposit IF it had only been only the actual problem items, small plastic bottles. They could have left the option to choose a can over a bottle and consumer habit could have brought a massive change if manufacturers saw a decline in plastic sales, but that option is gone now. I know it was mentioned that return said they needed the cans to fund the scam, another example of them making their problem our problem.

Some questions I'd love to ask return.

Why did they go on national media and tell us to contact them if we have any problems, yet totally ignore any communication?

Why are they deleting negative comments on social media? Or indeed fairly asked genuine questions.

Why the big charge on large bottles which were never a litter problem and which people need to avoid sickness from poor water supplies?

Why have they STILL made no comment on house bound or disabled people despite numerous questions and requests?

How much have they taken from the people of ireland in deposits that cannot be got back? In other words how much have they stolen from us?

I love this statement on their website too:

"The management and operation of the Deposit Return Scheme does not cost the public or government any money at all. '

Really? So the diesel costs to go back and forth to non working machines was just my imagination was it? Of all the deposits I've paid so far, I've got back 15c in three five cent coins. This has cost me money in both dodgy return fees and price increases.

I am doing everything possible to avoid taking part in their crap games, and no longer buy any cans or bottles on the go. Even though i really like pepsi max now and then with lunch, it's ribena for me now. I truly hope the manufacturers see a sharp decline in sales and support consumers in fighting against this scam.

A perfect chance to give the option to totally remove the plastic problem, but green greed fcuked that up totally.

All about the environment my arse, they couldn't have made a bigger balls of this if they'd tried.

In my opinion, once the shop is open and deposit items are being sold the machines should be operational.

Shop open, machine open is the baseline for uptime.

Of course allowances must be made for breakdowns.

In the event of a breakdown it really doesn't matter whether the machine is shuttered or not.

It might even be better so that people can clearly see it's not available.

It could also prevent any further damage being caused until it's repaired.

In the event of a breakdown it really doesn't matter whether the machine is shuttered or not.

Of course it does. If the machine is turned off, it can neither collect or relay data.

I'm not convinced that closing a shutter in front of an RVM would affect those functions.

Sorry, I thought you were referring to it being shuttered.

We are at cross purposes, no harm done.

Definitely not acceptable to have one down for three weeks.

Was there even another one working at the same place ?

I'm also not very knowledgeable to the exact ins and outs but that is what the green party and many others say will happen. Thinking about it logically I'm not sure Eamon Ryan etc would be this excited about a scheme that incinerates returned materials

Recycling plastic is expensive and the process is a heavy pollutant. So it would be the opposite of logic.

Is the process of creating new plastic not also just as expensive and pouting?

The majority will still be incinerated (down cycled - turned into electricity) or exported for marginal amounts of recycling, then pellets will be sold back to manufacturers who get to display some bullshít recycling logo on their bottle to pretend they are environmental.

That's obviously auful if true but is there any proof of this actually happening to what we are putting into the RVMs?

That product only has to be made from 25% recycled material as per the directive.

That's still 25% more than what is recycled when a bottle is made from raw plastic. If they said it had to be 100% from the get go it would be completely unachievable

It would be far more environmental if every home in the state was provided with a burn barrel for plastic.

More environmentally friendly for us to burn plastic in our homes than to recycle 25% of it? Can you explain that logic?

I have a cloud based digital clock on my wall but its stuck on the same time. It shows the correct time only twice a day, but according to the server stats it has 100% uptime.

So that's pretty good right?

Thread title should be amended to:

Deposit return scheme (Greenbeanery)

Encapsulates Re-Turn perfectly.

Excess profits made from this scheme, and they are profits, should be ring fenced and put towards initiatives that reduce waste..for example water fountains in public spaces where we csn fill reusable bottles with water on the go rather than buying bottled water.

My advice is that anyone annoyed about it stop wasting your time with it. Accept it for what it is - another stealth tax and profiteering exercise. Then continue as you always have. It's a lot less stressful.

Good advice. I have given up on it. Continue as you always have… not quite. I just bought a tub of Gatorade powder. It feels expensive at 45 euro, but if it gives me the equivalent of 20 bottles of gatorade, it will be 2.10 per 500ml, plus 20 deposits of 15 cent which would have been 3 euros. Plus I can feel smug that I have saved the environment 20 plastic bottles.

Now if only Irn Bru could be powdered!

I go through phases of "not caring / moving on" to "if nothing is said now the next scam will be the same / worse"

Where you getting that price?

Recently got 5 ice stick trays to add to bottles of filtered water. Wouldn't mind some flavours now though.

yesterday I had a BIG accumulation of plastic bottles to return, all my sparking mineral water. I had ‘em all “blown up” to go through, and it worked. As soon as I was through next person got the STOP sign as I had effectively filled the machine. They are effectively “too small” to be effective, or emptied too infrequently, trajectory pick. ALDI Nutgrove