Recycling old ideas to combat plastic waste

NOT being around at the time, it’s hard to verify, of course, but the idea of a bottle refund scheme was apparently invented in Dublin. Established in 1799, A&R Thwaites & Co of Upper Sackville Street (now O’Connell Street) in Dublin, claimed to be the inventors of soda water. Advertising the provision of artificially-made mineral waters, the company announced to customers they paid the princely sum of two shillings a dozen for returned bottles.

The initiative became the standard across the bottled drinks industry in this country and Britain.

The concept clearly caught on, as the idea of a deposit return scheme and bottle refunds remains to this day.

Bottle refunds in this country were phased out as glass became cheaper to produce, recycling bottle banks were introduced and plastic took over as the container of choice for soft drinks.

Now the environmental damage caused by plastic is leading to demands for more waste-reduction measures and schemes to encourage the return of bottles for re-use.

Under a pilot scheme to be rolled out in Co Tipperary, households will now be paid to return aluminium and plastic drinks containers. But Environment Minister Denis Naughten has opposed plans for a national deposit and return scheme because he says it has not been costed.

The Green Party is proposing to charge producers of plastic bottles and aluminium drinks cans 1c for every item placed on the market, with consumers paying a refundable deposit of 15c when buying a drink.

It can’t happen quickly enough, with similar schemes operating in several countries, and Ireland can again match up to the example of A&R Thwaites.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.