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THE PUBLIC HAVE been asked to give feedback on the proposed design of a deposit return scheme that would seek to increase recycling rates.
The scheme would see a 20c deposit introduced on plastic bottles up to 3 litres and aluminium cans that would be refunded when a container is returned.
A public consultation paper has been launched today to invite submissions on the design of the scheme.
The paper outlines three main options for how the deposit return scheme would work that the public can give feedback on.
The first option would involve a “centralised or operational DRS” that would be owned and led by producers, but with most of the responsibility for running the scheme given to a scheme operator.
Producers with beverage containers for sale in Ireland could establish their own scheme operator, or form a partnership with an existing approved scheme.
The scheme operator would set producer fees and have responsibility for managing the collecting, sorting, treatment and sale for recycling of the materials that are returned, and provide machines at retail outlets where people can return their bottles and cans.
The scheme operator would also be responsible for raising awareness and education about the deposit return scheme and producing annual reports and accounts.
The second option is a “decentralised or financial DRS”, which would give more responsibility for reaching targets to the producers themselves and a more limited role to scheme operators.
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The paper outlines that “while a decentralised scheme would also be given legislative underpinning, responsibility for target attainment is given to producers generally”.
Other responsibilities would then fall on entities carrying out specific elements of the scheme, such as collectors. Those entities would receive financial support from the scheme operator for their actions under the scheme.
In a decentralised model, “typically producers will collect their own containers or will contract out collection of their own containers, so that there can be multiple collectors and different systems”.
The third option laid out in the paper is a hybrid model that would combine elements of both the centralised and decentralised approaches.
The report recommends the second option of a decentralised / financial scheme, and is asking for feedback on whether the public agrees with its recommendation or would support one of the other two options.
The submission period opened today and is due to close on 12 November.
The proposed scheme comes as part of Ireland’s Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy.
At the publication of the paper, Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications Eamon Ryan said that Ireland must “adapt our approach to how we use and manage our resources”.
“We must strive to keep resources in circulation for as long as possible and the introduction of a DRS is a first step in this, as we need to collect and recycle more plastic bottles and aluminium cans,” Ryan said.
“It will also help to reduce litter and will ensure that we meet the EU targets which are coming down the tracks,” he said
“This consultation paper is the first step in this process and I hope that interested stakeholders and members of the public take the time to consider the issues around DRS and support its introduction.”
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jfc! just copy the already working models in other functioning countries. Why does everything have to be so bassackwards and bureaucratic in this moss covered rock??
@are those my shoes?:
Sure wouldn’t that make sense! It can’t be simple for us.
Instead of looking at what works in other countries and picking the best model… They’ll spend pucks of money looking at other options then select the worst or least effective one.
Then we’ll probably need a tribunal.
@Nollaig Kelly: or wait till BAM buy a Recycling business and give them the contract based on deliberately under-estimated price and timelines and positions for ex politicians.
Why can’t things just be simple, look at the other countries that do it like The Netherlands, Germany and Austria. See which works best and bring in, it’s a white paper now before turning into a brown envelope.
So basically they’re going to increase the price of every drink container, and you get your money back when you return the container…
Like in them olden days of yore..!
What about the 95% of people who recycle all drink containers anyway..
Will turn out to be a new form of money spinner for somebody ..ie Government
@Geraldine O’Riordan: the difference is that the drink containers can be used for the same purpose without breaking them down and reshaping them first. it’s a big resource saver.
since you are always getting the same deposit amount back, the only cost is fuel for getting them to the return station, which is compensated by reduced lifts of the green bin.
@Da_Dell: While I agree with you, I also saw that this created a 2nd class of citizens, the bottle collecting dumpster divers. Even unofficial ring leaders emerged who strongarmed beggers into collecting bottles for them and kept half the deposit as “administrative expenses”.
It is estimated it will cost up to €116 million to set up such this system. Competing with already established kerbside collections. Instead of placing your cans and plastic into bins. We will have to drive them to a pickup area. Wasting more resources and time.
Will kerbside collections for recyclables be cost effective when the only materials of value are removed? Or will we have to pay more for kerbside collections?
The aim allegedly is to increase recycling rates but in fact it will make it more expensive to recycle.
@leartius: Certainly. I’m not buying a car to do this. Why can’t people reuse their own containers in buy by weight stores anyway? I suppose that wouldn’t be profitable enough.
Germany used to have a model based on option 1, but changed it to option 2 after a few years. just in case anyone was wondering. the problem with option 1 was that the different supermarkets only returned the deposit if you could prove that you purchased the container at their shop. while understandable, it is also completely counterproductive to the cause.
@Barry: just to add, I used the german system. It was seriously handy, the fact you got money back meant you NEVER saw bottles left around the street because they were actually worth money.
It was great after a weekly shop to be able to go back the next week and get say 5euro back that you could spend on your next shop.
For the success of the scheme it must be local and easy to use.
Supermarkets are ideal locations for deposit-return machines: you recycle your drink containers, receive a print-out and get discount off your bill…simple.
So instead of putting all my plastic bottles and cans into my recycling bin I will now have to bring them at great expense, and using lots of petrol or diesel, to one of the new collection points where I might get a voucher to spend in a shop, they will never give cash! This energy saving wastes more energy than it will ever save!
Please avert your eyes when you see a new class of a-socials, the entrepreneurial “dumpster divers”. Unlock your bins and watch your undesired recycling vanish overnight. Be kind, and leave your bottles NEXT to a public bin when out and about so the unmentionables can collect them “clean” without rummaging the bottom of the bin. This is what I witnessed in Germany with their pfant (deposit) model.
So we will have people collecting cans on the street like the US.
If plastic bottles can be reused, let Rehab /Glasco get a bin for that. The recycling bins I use are being emptied every few days as people are recycling all the cans and bottles they bring home.
1 million a day on cycle tracks and paying people to do what they are already doing, release wolves into the country.
What is he going to come out with next?
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