Deposit return scheme (recycling) - Part 2

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You're not really being all that cynical.

The likes of you and me and all those thousands of cleaner uppers/litter pickers,while doing our bit, were always a minority.

A sizeable and hopefully growing minority it must be said through initiatives like Tidy Towns and Spring Clean.

As you said we never expected payment in any way and just did it out of civic spirit.

However the way I see it is if the bribe/bonus of getting a little cash attracts more people to join our ranks and help clean up it's a win win.

Plus I'm not averse to collecting a few euros for my own efforts either 🙂

If you go back a few pages, you see posts linking to and discussing Irish Independent articles where a figure of €15 million is quoted, and losses of €700,000 a month.

They are aiming to collect 90% of all containers sold by 2030.

I suppose they reckon the other 10% will go missing one way or another.

I looked it up and posted before about the legal structure of a Not For Profit Company which Re-turn is.

I can't see any legal means for directors to draw dividends from such a company.

It's sort of obvious that they want containers returned because they keep saying they want to reach that 90%.

I agree that bulk return sites would be a good addition. They would divert people with large numbers to return away from the RVMs. This would leave the RVMs for domestic users and reduce delays.

I personally have managed to avoid DRS to date but within the house I've seen it creep up, to my annoyance. Even though we are not big consumers of drinks, Re-turn has quietly become part of our shopping routine.

So we took a trip up north and returned home with just under 200 items that would be in-scope here. Total cost was around £90/ €105. [The cost here, including MUP on some of the items, would be around €170, plus around €29 DRS.]

So, some welcome savings on the cost of the items themselves, but the true benefit of shopping north is not having to engage with re-turn. The €29 deposit we avoided is not huge money, to be fair; but we have probably 15 weeks worth of beverages now bought, the advantage is we avoid 15 weeks of storing old cans and bottles, carting them back in, finding a machine that works in a shop we want to buy in, all to get €1-2 per weekly visit back.

Instead, from here until October I know I can simply dump into our blue bin any can or plastic bottle and not worry about DRS. And then plan another trip north.

Actually not at all close to the border but we would be up there for other reasons maybe 3 times a year so it works for us.

I know eventually the UK will have their own scheme but until then I'm happier doing things this way.

Re: the labels, I am not interested in that as all I want to do is to use my own recycling bin without penalty. FYI There are actually some items sold in NI with re-turn logo so in fact a new label may not even be needed ... But it's avoiding the scheme altogether is what I am trying to do.

Still haven't engaged with this scam since it launched, but then I had already accepted it as a glorified price increase/stealth taxation designed to make it as awkward as possible to avoid. The only ones winning are those collecting the interest on these "deposits".

As I mentioned though, I don't pay for a bin collection service either (all of my rubbish goes into the local landfill compactors for about a tenner per boot load - 8ish black bags) so I'm saving there as well.

Ultimately though, my time is more valuable to me than wandering the town with bags of rubbish to find a machine that might take it for what is ultimately maybe 15/20 quid a month, or the cost of a single takeaway including delivery.

What if you dont have a utility room? Or a car?

Anyway, I was shocked when browsing the fizzy drinks on tesco. 8 x 150ml cans of Coke is now 9.55 including the deposit. Thats 6.96 a litre. Meanwhile, 6 cans of beer (440ml) is 3.79 a litre.

Why is coke so expensive now? Oh yeah, the Sugar Sweetened Drinks Tax: https://www.revenue.ie/en/companies-and-charities/excise-and-licences/sugar-sweetened-drinks-tax/index.aspx

You presumably have another room in your abode? You can get places by other means than a car.

Oh let's completely overlook that 4 years ago 24 Diet Coke cans were €12 as standard, often down to €8 on sale. Now you can't even get the 24 pack anymore, the 18 pack is €17, only a euro cheaper than the full sugar versions which the smart among ye will immediately notice that the full sugar versions should be more than a euro more expensive due to the tax… And that's all before this re-scam charge. And people defending prices… ye are the reason this crap comes in and is just accepted. Suits ye and yours fine so feck everyone else. There's another thread on selfishness in the first page ye should post in…

FYI: Aldi selling the 18 packs for €10 presently, full sugar or diet/zero. I stocked up.

The solution to this particular problem is not to engage with it. Reduce your use of these types of containers and those that you do use fire them into your recycle bin.

Engagement with the system will have you tearing your hair out.

Should report yourself to Re-Turn and be promptly told "it's nothing to do with us, now stop bothering us while why count up the millions we're making"

They palmed off enforcement of that to the County Councils!

So no enforcement then, unless someone has upset the Council for other reasons.

Joke of a scheme being run here while Re-turn get paid a lot for very little.

There are a lot of ways to force them to either improve this scheme or abandon it. From outright boycott of products with deposit charged to little more time consuming but direct reduction of profit this "non-profit" organization is making like printing receipt after every single bottle or can you deposit in the machine. If enough people start doing this watch how fast they will implement some app or mobile wallet as they would not be able to keep up with changing rolls and servicing printers in machines. Also stores will push them towards this as cashiers will be swamped with hundreds of vouchers which need to be scanned one after another. Well, if we have to put bottles and cans one after another nearly perfectly alligned so code can be scanned why not to give them taste of their own medicine?

I have been depositing couple cans and bottles every morning on my way from work. Sometimes more sometimes less, I kept vouchers as I did not need anything from the store that time. Today I was paying for purchase and gave cashier about 10 vouchers and she rolled her eyes as she had to scan them one by one. Funny thing is that it was me who had to put cans in one by one she got it easy yet still, she did not like it. I do not want to make fuss for cashiers but if that is a way to make this unfit system to work better I can easily produce 200-300 receipts a week.