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The bottle banks around Ireland after Christmas are quite a sight

Chaos.

IT’S THE FIRST week in January and it’s back to reality for the nation.

But one area we often forget about is the bottle banks of Ireland.

Look at them there, the poor things

This is their busiest time, and people can’t get near them such is the demand

The time of excess is over, and now this is what we’re left with

Best leave it until next week, in fairness

At least the country is ridding themselves of the bottle baggage

This should be a positive experience - everything is going to be allllright.

Written by David Elkin and posted on DailyEdge.ie

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More 8 reasons to keep telling yourself Dry January is the smart choice>

More 8 delicious non-alcoholic pub drinks to get anyone through Dry January>

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54 Comments
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    Mute Damien Duffy
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    Jan 5th 2016, 7:47 PM

    If this was every weekend then I’d say fair enough. But this is after a month of celebrating and entertaining guests with much reduced collections due to the time of year so a bit sensationalist to call us a NATION of alcoholics. More ammo for the minimum pricing advocates.

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    Mute Andrew Halpin
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    Jan 5th 2016, 8:14 PM

    100% Damien. Why don’t the council initiate a policy where the collections continue over the two week holiday period as an essential service? Then no extra bottle banks would be needed. Seems like typical public service policy, government(local authority) implements cuts and then makes policy change based on its own cuts.

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    Mute George Salter
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    Jan 5th 2016, 9:42 PM

    Apart from the minor detail that practically all bottle banks are emptied by private contractors….

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    Mute Andrew Halpin
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    Jan 5th 2016, 10:04 PM

    I’m sure you’re correct.I wonder where are the bottles processed? We can see from the pics capacity has been reached locally. This of course does not indicate the next ‘depot’ level of capacity and so on. I do not know the nature of the contract the private collectors have or what terms those contracts have written in. I think it’s safe to say it’s either licenced by local authorities or done on a rate of some kind. This returns me to my first point, that the power ultimately lies in the hands of government to issue an instrument or dictat to resolve the issue with all local authorities.

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    Mute George Salter
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    Jan 5th 2016, 10:30 PM

    It’s licenced by the national office in Offaly. No conditions as to frequency of collection are imposed; if the operators find it commercially viable, they’ll collect.

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    Mute Andrew Halpin
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    Jan 5th 2016, 10:34 PM

    Easy fix then

    5
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    Mute Maire Ui Riain
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    Jan 5th 2016, 10:54 PM

    Irrespective lazy knackers….take bottles home and go back again

    46
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    Mute Podge
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    Jan 5th 2016, 7:45 PM

    Dry January is easy when you’ve drank everything and nothing’s left.

    358
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    Mute Paddy o'brian
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    Jan 6th 2016, 12:44 AM

    I’m amazed those bottle bin collectors don’t shift that stuff faster it’s not that that there’s any shortage of drivers most of them employ only east European drivers and work the lard outta them and pay them somthing like €2 per hour so why is all that stuff left lying around? Perhaps if there was a stiff fine applied every time an overflowing bin wasnt lifted in reasonable time it might concentrate the mind of those greedy bottle bransporters

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    Mute Jimbo
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    Jan 6th 2016, 10:19 AM

    Paddy. Do you have evidence of 2e an hour payment? If so you should report this.

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    Mute Pauliebhoy
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    Jan 5th 2016, 8:11 PM

    Is it possible you could be fined for leaving bottles on the ground?

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    Mute Thomas Murphy
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    Jan 5th 2016, 8:32 PM

    If caught on camera then yes.

    90
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    Mute Paul Murray
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    Jan 5th 2016, 8:33 PM

    Yeah it’s considered fly tipping (classed in the same way as lobbing a black bag into a ditch believe it or not). Considering the circumstances though it would be fairly harsh to send someone a €150 fine through the door.

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    Mute George Salter
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    Jan 5th 2016, 9:44 PM

    You’d be unlikely to get fined when the bank is obviously full. However, if you decided to empty a couple of bin bags as well ( and it does happen…)

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    Mute Deborah Behan
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    Jan 5th 2016, 9:24 PM

    It’s great to see so much recycling going on!!!

    125
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    Mute Dave Meagher
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    Jan 5th 2016, 8:01 PM

    Of course we are told we drink to much, real issue here is council workers do F all.

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    Mute George Salter
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    Jan 5th 2016, 10:30 PM

    As stayed above, the councils aren’t the collectors

    24
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    Mute Sam Cantwell
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    Jan 5th 2016, 8:51 PM

    I can’t help but laugh at this. A bag flew out of my hand in the breeze at a bottle bank, back in August. I got a letter in the post about month later telling me that they got my car registration from the CCTV and that littering is an offence, and it’ll be 150 euro if I’m caught doing it again.

    If they spent less time sitting on their holes looking for reasons to send snotty letters, and more time emptying the bottle banks, that’d be a fine thing.

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    Mute George Salter
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    Jan 5th 2016, 9:45 PM

    I invite you to try doing littering or waste for a week.

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    Mute George Salter
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    Jan 5th 2016, 10:32 PM

    Anyone who has to call in the Gardai as part of their normal work can criticise. Else, get lost.

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    Mute Jarlath Murphy
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    Jan 5th 2016, 7:48 PM

    The Govt need to open more bottlebanks!

    Ohh wait!,,

    67
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    Mute Ruth Colbert
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    Jan 5th 2016, 9:36 PM

    Why is it, Lidl or Aldi don’t have bottle banks – especially considering the amount of alcohol they sell cheaply

    60
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    Mute Larissa Caroline Nikolaus
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    Jan 5th 2016, 10:26 PM

    Why not introduce a deposit system like in other European countries, you pay a few cent deposit on bottle or can, which you then get back when returning them to a store

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    Mute Maire Ui Riain
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    Jan 5th 2016, 10:55 PM

    Agree

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    Mute Maire Ui Riain
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    Jan 5th 2016, 10:55 PM

    Agree spot on

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    Mute Len Brennan
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    Jan 5th 2016, 11:00 PM

    @Ruth When Lidl or Aldi SELL something surely it is not their problem anymore, is it?

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    Mute Brian Ó Dálaigh
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    Jan 6th 2016, 1:43 AM

    There are bottle banks outside both the Lidl and Aldi in Sligo. It’s not up to supermarkets. The decision on where bottle banks are located is solely the responsibility of the local council’s environment department.

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    Mute Evan Wakefield
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    Jan 6th 2016, 6:38 AM

    That system works very well in south Australia, people just accumulate all their bottles and then take them to a bring centre when they’ve a full load to get back 10c a bottle, incidentally there was a similar system here years ago by some companies who took back lemonade bottles,Cadet springs to mind as one of them.

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    Mute John Tubbritt
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    Jan 6th 2016, 8:54 AM

    When I was a kid that’s how we made our pocket money. 2p on a bottle recycling at its best.

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    Mute EmmaQ@gmail.com
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    Jan 5th 2016, 8:54 PM

    Its great to see so many people enjoyed Christmas, despite the best attempts by the government to put the price of a bottle of wine out of ordinary working peoples reach.

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    Mute Stephen murphy
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    Jan 5th 2016, 7:48 PM

    Enough bottles there, to fix the floods and sell it too Arabs?

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    Mute Neil
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    Jan 5th 2016, 9:48 PM

    At least we recycle!

    48
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    Mute John Quill
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    Jan 5th 2016, 9:05 PM

    It’s not just empty beer and wine bottles, there’s a lot more waste in general generated over ‘the’ Christmas. A lot of people are home, eating more, drinking more, opening presents and generally enjoying themselves. A bunch of Buzz Killingtons are focusing on beer bottles and calling us all a nation of alcoholics.

    44
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    Mute Robinson O'crusoe
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    Jan 5th 2016, 8:32 PM

    Why the fuss?
    Doesn’t look so bad to me, seen worse in several kitchens over the last couple of weeks.
    Guess some people don’t go to the good parties.

    42
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    Mute Jamie Jj Tobin
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    Jan 5th 2016, 7:45 PM

    I dont no why we are introducing minimum price alcohol it is clear we dont have a sit at home drink problem

    35
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    Mute Len Brennan
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    Jan 5th 2016, 10:56 PM

    I couldn’t care less if people drank copious amounts of cocktails made with vodka and Cillit Bang at home. I might drink a couple cans watching a match at home every now and again. Why should I have to pay for other peoples inability to control themselves?

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    Mute Maureen Stanford
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    Jan 5th 2016, 8:30 PM

    So much for recycling and making us pay for our bins . Every thing to get money out of us

    34
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    Mute Sean Kelly
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    Jan 5th 2016, 9:28 PM

    Cooney mouthing about alcoholics..

    Looks like a man who likes a good drink and a nice few helpings of the Ole Turkey

    24
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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Jan 5th 2016, 8:40 PM

    They be like that for another month…
    I saw that in England that these bottle banks are not used to recycle bottle to make bottles but to make glass fibre insulation. Which separating bottles according to colour is a funny idea then?

    Why are they no can banks???

    19
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    Mute Pauliebhoy
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    Jan 5th 2016, 9:27 PM

    They used to have can banks in Tesco Clearwater

    10
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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Jan 6th 2016, 12:47 AM

    Could be China might have made Iron that cheap that it costs money to take them??? Who knows?

    1
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    Mute paul compton
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    Jan 5th 2016, 10:39 PM

    I hope they’re all fined for littering, if the bins are full then come back next week.

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    Mute Michael Sands
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    Jan 5th 2016, 8:43 PM

    Reminds me of the chemical toilets at gigs / concerts…

    18
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    Mute Nigel Davis
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    Jan 5th 2016, 10:35 PM

    We complain that the government doesn’t spend enough on healthcare, while we waste a king’s ransom on alcohol.

    There is a disconnect somewhere in all of this.

    16
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    Mute Maire Ui Riain
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    Jan 5th 2016, 10:53 PM

    We are filthy lazy people….why do think is going to clear those messes up? Knackers….

    15
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    Mute J
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    Jan 6th 2016, 3:47 AM

    What an absolute uneducated Cretan u are. I lived on the continent for years and people certainly didn’t have to drive to the local store or
    petrol station for recycling. Only in ireland do u have to get the donkey and Cart out to find the recycling. Eeeaaawwww eeeaaawwww.

    7
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    Mute Rashers Tierney
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    Jan 6th 2016, 2:30 AM

    So, we should ignore the fact that in most civilised places these things are collected on a daily basis by municipal authorities? Much easier to have a cheap laugh at ‘Paddy the drunk ‘ rather than insist on proper services.

    13
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    Mute DubKid
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    Jan 5th 2016, 9:52 PM

    Be twice as much on Good Friday x x

    11
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    Mute Fiona deFreyne
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    Jan 5th 2016, 10:55 PM

    Most of the empty bottles at most of the bottle banks are mine. They were for personal use.

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    Mute Malachi Shanks
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    Jan 6th 2016, 7:52 AM

    If my house hold bins are collected on Stephens day there is no reason why the bottle bins can’t be done in few days after . Bad management bad planning

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    Mute Mairead Ni Chleirigh
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    Jan 5th 2016, 9:39 PM

    Great I didn’t even get there with mine yet

    7
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    Mute Nigel Davis
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    Jan 6th 2016, 5:22 AM

    Imagine if we had a Healthcare Levy on alcohol, tobacco and junk food?

    It wouldn’t be a panacea, it would be s positive step.

    I suppose we will have to wait until Leo Varadka is Taoiseach?

    3
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    Mute Oran Joyce
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    Jan 5th 2016, 11:08 PM

    Matt Talbot will be turning in his grave.

    3
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    Mute John maghuire
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    Jan 6th 2016, 10:34 PM

    All the left overs from the yummy mummy brigade

    1
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