A general rule of thumb in Ireland is that when a policy of the Government is widely seen by journalists as being motivated by goodness and decency, the media coverage of that scheme will omit almost any criticism and present it as an entirely positive development. A quick scan of Irish headlines in relation to the deposit return scheme, due to be introduced from February 1st, shows that the Irish media have, predictably, been utterly fawning:
“Rebels to get money back for recycling as deposit return scheme launches soon” blared Cork Beo three days ago. “Irish people set to earn extra money for recycling cans and bottles in new scheme” trumpeted the Irish Mirror on the same day. “2,500 shops sign up for Eamon Ryan’s deposit return scheme” announced the Irish Independent on August 3rd last year. We could go on.
Few policies can ever have been as universally acclaimed as successes ahead of their launch as the deposit return scheme. Few, too, can have been as subject to so much misinformation.
Take for example the Irish Mirror headline above which declares that Irish people are “set to earn extra money for recycling”. This is flat false. Nobody in Ireland will earn extra money for recycling.
How the scheme works is simple enough in theory: The Government will place an extra tax on every can or glass bottle sold in Ireland. A can of diet coke, for example, might presently cost €1 in selected shops, but that price might rise to €1.15. The fifteen cents is essentially a “deposit” tax the Government wants you to pay for using the can or the bottle.
Then, if you are a really good boy or girl and bring your can or bottle back to the shop – or indeed any shop that has a collection terminal – you can feed the empty can or bottle into that terminal where you will be presented with a redeemable voucher worth the fifteen cents, which you can then turn into cash in the shop or use to buy your next set of groceries. You’re not earning extra money – what’s essentially happening is that the Government is taking your 15c hostage to guarantee good behaviour: Recycling. Of course, you may still choose not to recycle, in which case the Government will keep your 15c in order to pay for the cost of your bad behaviour.
It should be noted that while this policy is proceeding in Ireland from the beginning of February, an identical scheme in Scotland has been delayed for at least another eighteen months. It is no coincidence that Scotland and the Republic are the two jurisdictions across the islands that are enacting such a policy: They are the two jurisdictions where the Green Parties of Ireland and Scotland hold power in Government, and this is an entirely Green Party scheme.
In Scotland, the proposal was scheduled to proceed last August, was then delayed until March of this year, and then further delayed until October 2025.
In fairness, some of the reasons for this are related to Scotland’s constitutional position vis a vis the rest of the United Kingdom, and concerns that the implementation of such a scheme in Scotland would impact cross-border regulation of trade with England (imposing, as it would, a requirement on English manufacturers to comply with Scottish law).
However, unlike in Ireland, there has also been significant coverage of the impact of the proposal on native Scottish businesses:
Some firms have voiced concerns it will place extra costs and other burdens on them at a time when they are already struggling.
Small producers such as craft breweries said they were not against the idea in principle – but warned that the timetable and details of the scheme were problematic.
Producers are being encouraged to label items destined for sale in Scotland with a special Scottish barcode – and if they choose not do this, they face a surcharge of just over 1p per item.
Trade bodies say thousands of firms could end up being forced out of the Scottish market, and many products would disappear from the shelves.
There were other, more pragmatic concerns, too: The 15c surcharge applied to cans and bottles at source has to be refunded to consumers by private companies, not by the Government: In Scotland it emerged that retailers might have to wait for up to a full month for the Scottish Government to refund them the potentially tens of thousands they might end up paying out in refunds to consumers.
As no less an organ than Euronews reported:
“So strong was the across-the-board resistance to the DRS’s rollout that during the long and acrimonious SNP leadership race earlier this year, all three candidates to succeed Sturgeon as first minister said it needed to be delayed and recalibrated.”
In Ireland, of course, there has been nothing like that kind of scrutiny. The Deposit Return Scheme is backed by all parties and has the enthusiastic backing of the Irish media at large. Scrutiny has been almost non-existent, and the coverage has been much more of the back-clapping “this is just as visionary as the smoking ban” variety.
It remains to be seen whether the Deposit Return Scheme will be a success – it may very well prove to be one. But it’s probably worth noting that the very many concerns about its impact on businesses and the economy in Scotland have not featured at all in the debate here.
If the scheme proves troublesome, then a failure to have had a full debate about it will have been yet another failure both of Irish democracy, and its obsession with consensus, and of the Irish media, and its unwillingness to ask critical questions of policies labelled “green”.