IRISH CONSUMERS LAST year turned their back on €66.7 million when they failed to cash in their deposits for soft drink containers through the Deposit Return Scheme.

That is according to the 2024 annual report for Re-turn which shows that the failure by consumers to redeem the €66 million worth in deposits for their soft drink containers was the chief reason behind the State backed firm to record a pre-tax surplus of €51.3 million for 2024.

Re-Turn went live with its Deposit Return Scheme operations on 1 February 2024 with the aim to significantly increase the recycling rates of bottles and cans.

The annual report shows Re-turn recorded revenues of €114.4 million in 2024.

This included the €66.7 million in unredeemed deposits and €47.7 million made up of €17.2 million from the sale of material and €30.5 million from ‘producer fees’.

The annual report discloses that the income from unredeemed deposits has resulted in a VAT settlement by Re-turn of €23.7 million.

The company’s 2024 costs totalled €62.2 million made up of direct collection and recycling costs of €46.5 million and administrative expenses of €1.5.7 million which included a spend of €4.6 million on ‘marketing, communications, and public awareness’.

The report states that the €66.7 million reflects the recognition of unredeemed deposits for the financial year and “this is after a €36.5 million estimate of deposits expected to be returned post year end”.

The report states that “unredeemed deposits are an expected and routine scenario for deposit return schemes and it was anticipated that in the initial transition period redemptions would be low and therefore there would be a high level of unredeemed deposits.

The report states that “as a not-for-profit organisation, in the early stages of our maturity, the fees from unredeemed containers are being reinvested in a number of ways”.

These include paying off initial scheme set-up costs; infrastructure development; consumer education campaigns and contributing to our legally required contingency reserve.

The report adds that income from unredeemed deposits “is expected to significantly reduce as the scheme reaches its targeted redemptions of 90% in the coming years”.

The report states that “in the long term, should unredeemed deposits be higher than forecast, we would support initiatives that drive increased adoption of the scheme as well as investing in broader innovative projects designed to further the country’s circular economy strategy”.

The report states that Re-turn closed the year with a cash balance of €89.8m.

The report states that this cash figure will reduce significantly in 2025 when several significant draw-downs are scheduled and after accounting for these factors the adjusted cash balance would reduce to approximately €32m.

The significant draw-downs include a VAT settlement on unredeemed deposits of €23.7 million; a provision of €13.8 million for Re-turn’s contingency reserve fund; a settlement of the remaining €11.7 million balance of the facility agreement with Bank of Ireland grant settlement of c.€3.2 million to retailers in respect of 2024 and a provision of €5.4 million for corporation tax arising on
surplus in the scheme.

In comments attached to the report, ceo of Re-turn, Ciaran Foley has stated: “Thanks to the incredible buy-in and adoption from the Irish public, 877 million containers were returned through DRS in 2024, equating to an average 66% post transition period recycling rate10.

He said: “The seasonality of the soft drinks market was reflected in some even higher months, such as in August when the return rate reached 75%. Every 1% increase equates to around 19 million containers, and we recorded some daily returns of over 5 million products over the Christmas period.

Chair of Re-turn, Tony Keohane stated that the launch of Ireland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) in February 2024 marked a defining milestone in the country’s journey toward a more sustainable future.

He said: “From a standing start in Autumn 2022, the scheme collected more than 877 million drinks containers in its first 11 months. In that short time, we’ve seen Irish consumers recycle more bottles and cans than ever before and do so in a way that produces high quality recyclate, helping build a truly circular economy.”