ARE THE PUBLIC GIVING A STUFF ABOUT RE-TURN?
New recycling deposit scheme gets rubbished
THE Deposit Return Scheme is not even two months old, but already the public say it’s costing them money and becoming a disincentive to recycle.
It’s also causing problems and a potential loss of business for small retail outlets.
Critics say struggling families are being hit hardest about €5 added to weekly shopping costs with no guarantee they will get their money back from reverse vending machines (RVMS) if the containers are damaged.
The view of many is that it’s just another tax.
Yet Re-turn, Ireland’s Deposit Return Scheme, said figures show it’s growing momentum, has community support and is a clear sign efforts are resonating.
It announced recently it has collected 5.6 million containers since it launched on February 1.
Ireland returned two million in February, and 3.6 million in the first 10 days of March.
TRANSACTIONS
It says with 2,600 RVMS and 1.9 million transactions recorded across the country, it’s advancing towards Ireland’s recycling targets.
Some consumers have been charged deposits for products they should not have been.
In a statement, Re-turn advised those who can’t get a voucher from an RVM to return to the store.
It added: “In the unlikely event the drinks container you paid a deposit on is rejected by an RVM, please inform the retailer in the first instance.”
Re-turn CEO Ciaran Foley confirmed there have been some teething problems although he emphasised it has had a “solid start”.
But he also acknowledged there will be examples of the public being unable to get their deposits back.
He added: “In that instance, we’ve asked them to work with the retailer, we’ve asked the retailers to pay them the deposit and then claim it back from us.”
Another issue is the need to keep all bottles and cans in pristine condition, in order to get your return.
It’s an inconvenience, it takes up space in small houses and it’s against our decades-long habits on recycling, where we crush our containers to ensure as much can be recycled as possible. It’s
been criticised
RETAILER
as impractical and transforms recycling from a rewarding measure to a punitive one.
The scheme could also have a devastating effect on the trade of retail outlets, especially small convenience stores, already struggling.
Fine Gael Cllr Noel Mccarthy, who
runs a small business in Fermoy, Co Cork, said his shop isn’t big enough for a RVM.
He said smaller businesses will lose out to the bigger stores as their customers change shopping patterns in order to avail of the scheme.
Mr Mccarthy added: “So, we actually are hunting custom back to the bigger shops. We were all saying it was going to be a good scheme, but it was only half thought out. Everything should have been up and running properly and then introduced.”
Meanwhile, a craft beer company fears it could lose up to 20% of its workforce to comply with the scheme.
Premier International Beers owner Dean Mcguiness told Newstalk the cost of adding Re-turn labels to their products is €70,000 a year – the equivalent of two staff members’ wages.
He said it will be smaller companies that will lose out to the likes of Guinness and Heineken which produce millions of cans of beer.
A Re-turn spokesperson said: “The deposit return scheme is a practical solution to ensure Ireland reaches its EU recycling targets and many of the EU Schemes have successfully achieved over 90% recycling rates.”