74% of people in Ireland support the Deposit Return Scheme, the firm behind the scheme has claimed.
In a statement published this week, Re-Turn claimed that it had conducted a survey which resulted in these findings.
“According to a recent survey by Re-turn, 84% of consumers have now used a Reverse Vending Machine since launch and support for the Scheme currently stands at 74%,” the company asserted, with CEO Ciaran Foley saying that the group had seen “incredible engagement” with the policy.
The methodology for the survey is not provided. Gript has reached out to Re-Turn asking for the methodology used, and this article will be updated to include their response if one is received.
UPDATE: Return responded with the following:
“To provide baseline information on the public’s support of Ireland’s Deposit Return Scheme and on behaviours and attitudes towards recycling, Re-turn commissioned Bounce Insights to conduct a nationally representative online survey. The fieldwork for this research was completed in July 2024. A 16-question online survey was conducted through the Bounce Insights online research panel (nationally representative, aged 18+, 1,009 survey respondents).”
The Deposit Return Scheme, which started on February 1st 2024, imposes an extra fee on most plastic bottles and cans at the time of purchase. This fee is refundable when customers return the empty containers for recycling at designated machines across the nation.
The scheme has been the subject of both praise and controversy since its announcement, with some arguing that it meaningfully reduces litter, while others claim it is an onerous and badly thought-out inconvenience on consumers.
Yesterday a post was published on the r/Ireland board in social media site Reddit, asking people how they found the scheme six months into its operation.
Some users were critical of its implementation.
“There needs to be more places that are exempt [from the scheme] like the airports, and a way of reporting places that are taking advantage of it,” said one comment.
“My local takeaway charges the deposit but gives you the old ‘recycle me’ can.”
Another user replied: “Agreed – at a concert how are you meant to return the bottle? No way unless you take it home.”
One individual complained that bottles and cans can’t be recycled unless they are intact, meaning they can’t be crushed to take up less space.
“It adds an additional chore to the weekend and seems like an unnecessary additional layer in the process,” another person said, while yet another commenter said it was “such a dumb scheme.”
“Another example of trying to tackle climate change downstream,” they said.
“Zero incentive or punitive measures on the manufacturers to come up with more eco friendly packaging…Our recycling bins at home aren’t good enough so what else are we putting in the recycle bin that isn’t good enough? Sure I may as well chuck all my waste in the green bin so and let the powers that be sort it?”
One particularly irate person said the measure was “insanity”.
“The sheer time wasting of it is annoying,” they said.
“You have to queue for the Re-Turn machine, more often than not you have to wait for the machine to be fixed, you feed your items in one by one with many of them rejecting, so you play ‘maybe this time’ until you get them all in. Then you have to go into the shop and queue again if you want to redeem your crappy little paper voucher. A half hour can easily be wasted just on the queuing.”
On storing the Re-turn items, they added: “I live in a small apartment. There’s no room in the kitchen for another bin. I’ve no outdoor area. I’ve a huge bag taking up space behind my front door but I am strongly considering getting rid of my recycling bin and just having a regular bin plus a Re-turn bin due to space issues.”
The person also mentioned that the machines “smell” and that “when you walk past the machines they reek of sickly sweet rot.”
“The sheer insanity of it,” they said.
“It’s not green. Driving to Re-Turn, getting a paper voucher, dumping the stuff that won’t go through into an ordinary bin, replacing the smelly bag for life after a few storage uses…It’s green washing.”
There were some positive responses however, with one individual calling the scheme “brilliant.”
“As someone who lives in country roads this scheme is brilliant,” said one person, who added: “I haven’t seen a bottle or can in months.”
Another person said that while they didn’t understand the scheme to begin with, its goal now makes sense to them.
“Could not understand the logic of it originally,” they said.
“I can see now the idea however is to incentivise people who wouldn’t have ordinarily recycled previously…and it appears to be working in that sense.”
“The ones I’ve seen around me seem to working well, and I often see people queuing to return their cans and bottles,” said another user.
“So from that it seems to be going OK. Rest of the country, I don’t know.”
Another person noted the “absolute whinging” that takes place on every post involving the scheme, while still another said: “I really can’t see why people are always bitching about the scheme. It’s not that big a deal to just return your containers.”
The use of the scheme has increased significantly since its introduction, with 2 million containers being recycled in the month of February when it was first launched, to 102 million in July.
However, according to Green Party Minister of State for the Circular Economy Ossian Smyth, “Reuse is better than recycling” – even better than using the Deposit Return Scheme.
“If we can persuade people to refill plastic bottles with water, that is better than persuading them to bring back the bottles in the first place,” he said.
“For example, the sports clubs, GAA clubs and football clubs informed me that they could have reverse vending machines. They could, but even better than that would be that they encourage children to refill their bottles every day when they are at the club rather than bringing a pallet-full of plastic bottles individually for each person.”
A recent Irish Business Against Litter survey found that there are almost 30% fewer cans and 20% fewer plastic bottles littering streets, which Re-Turn has pointed to as a positive impact of their policy.