New recycling scheme is a huge irritant, says O’Dea
The Deposit Return Scheme for bottles and cans is a ‘huge irritant to the public’, according to former minister Willie O’Dea.
The Fianna Fáil TD said millions of euro had already gone unclaimed in the first 40 days of the can and bottle recycling scheme.
He said: ‘This backs up what I’m hearing from constituents – this scheme is a huge irritant to the public.
‘Millions of bottles and cans not returned. Seems to be just an extra tax on people who were already recycling. Another great initiative of the Greens!’
However, the head of Re-turn, the company running the scheme, insisted it was working well, was more efficient than green bin recycling and was ‘about to go gangbusters’ in the summer.
Under the scheme, a 15c deposit is added to the price of bottles and cans between 150ml and 500ml, with 25c added to containers of 500ml to three litres.
Shoppers are charged the deposit in the price at the till and can be refunded through reverse-vending machines or over the counter in participating shops.
The scheme has been hailed by the Green Party as it will ‘boost recycling rates, greatly reduce litter and improve the environment’.
However, it has attracted criticism from customers and smaller shops, which complain that the roll-out and information about the scheme has been poor.
In the first 40 days of the scheme, €1.2million worth of deposits were returned to customers in the form of vouchers issued by reverse-vending machines. However, that is only a fraction of the amount the scheme is believed to have taken in over that time.
It means shoppers are either holding on to their empty containers until they have enough to return in bulk or are continuing to dispose of them via recycling or waste bins.
Yesterday, Re-turn chief Ciarán Foley said: ‘We’ve made a brilliant start – we’re up to a million [bottles or cans] a day now. We only did two million in the whole of February. This is a low time in the market in terms of these drinks – it’s about to go gangbusters in the summer.’
Re-turn said engagement with the scheme to date has been ‘positive’ with 15.8 million containers returned.
Mr Foley told Newstalk: ‘This is called a separate collection scheme because we need to get as much of the one product back to one place as possible.
‘Currently we achieve about an 80% recycle quality rate through the green bin. We can get that to 98% by having all of the same product in one place.
‘That means we can recycle up to seven times the same bottle, but really importantly, if we can get enough product in one place that means we can build a recycling centre on the island of Ireland. Currently most of the recycling goes abroad.’
He acknowledged that some products were still being sold that did not have the Re-turn symbol, and were therefore rejected by the machines.
However, he said by the end of May, every bottle or can should have the correct logo on it.
He said the company is now working on solutions for music festivals and other events.
It has been 55 days since the scheme started on February 1, but the latest figures available cover the period to March 12.
In the 40 days to that date, Return took back almost seven million containers – 3.4 million plastic bottles and 3.6 million cans.
Re-turn has said it is likely that shoppers would build up a collection of empties before returning them and may also amass vouchers before redeeming them.
A company spokesman said: ‘The scheme and its return metrics are going to evolve rapidly, and trends will be difficult to establish within the first year.’
Neither retailers nor Re-turn can retain unclaimed deposits indefinitely, so they will eventually go into recycling initiatives.
Ireland currently recycles about 60% of plastic drinks bottles. Under EU regulations, Ireland has to recycle 77% of plastic bottles by the end of 2025 and this will rise to 90% in 2030.
‘It’s about to go gangbusters’