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Refund scheme for alcohol containers 'could reduce illegal dumping'

An Athy councillor says that introducing a refund deposit scheme would see fewer people dumping cans and bottles.

A REFUND DEPOSIT scheme for alcohol containers would help reduce illegal rubbish dumping, a councillor has said.

Labour Party councillor Thomas Redmond from Athy has called for the introduction of a refund system on alcohol containers – cans and bottles – which he said would “end the scourge of dumping”.

Europe

Redmond told TheJournal.ie that he was inspired by similar schemes in place in European countries, such as Germany. People can return their bottles or cans to a specific centre or location and will receive a small amount of cash in return.

Redmond said that a recent litter clean-up by locals of the river walkway in the town of Athy produced in excess of 2,000 cans and bottles. He said that following this, people approached him to see if more can be done about littering in the Kildare town.

He believes a refund deposit scheme, or tax on the alcohol containers, could work to reduce this, and has received support from publicans in Athy.

Redmond said that in Germany, supermarkets offer the ability deposit cans or bottles using a machine which then refunds the cash. According to Redmond, it would cost around $10,000 for each machine, and he says at least one local publican is interested in purchasing one.

To introduce a refund deposit system, legislation would have to be brought in. “It wouldn’t take a lot to bring it in,” said Redmond. “The difference it would make would be substantial.”

Redmond is to put forward a council motion regarding the refund scheme, and said that he hopes the council will write to the Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan, to propose the idea.

There is no point in it being introduced [locally] – it just won’t work. It needs to be a nationwide thing and it wouldn’t take much legislation.

Study

A study on a deposit and return system for bottles in Ireland was published by Repak in 2008. It said that if the Irish government did bring in such a scheme, it would have to ensure that deposit legislation and the deposit system are in line with EU rules, including the Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste.

Ireland does not have widespread use of refillable items, although earlier this week, it was announced that Adare Farm is to sell its milk in glass bottles through Superquinn in Dublin. The bottles can recycled.

Repak said that the legislation could be challenged by the EU authorities or other member states as a breach of EU single market rules, as it would be a barrier to trade of imported drinks.

It said if a deposit is introduced, it must be clear to consumers and staff, and that it could include beer, water, carbonated soft drinks packaging. Ireland would have to choose between a simple deposit system, or a centrally managed system and would also have to decide on a price, ideally between 10 – 25cent.

Read: Dublin: Council tenants to prove they are dumping rubbish illegally>

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44 Comments
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    Mute Green Burqa
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    May 7th 2013, 7:20 AM

    I think its a good idea.
    There would be people out collecting them like in the US.

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    Mute Scarr
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    May 7th 2013, 8:34 AM

    I’m told they operate a broader incentivised recycling scheme in china which has led to homeless / destitute people collecting trash from streets in order to earn spending money for themselves.

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    Mute Green Burqa
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    May 7th 2013, 11:24 AM

    That is correct. People go around and actually take rubbish off the streets and out of bins.
    I belive that some people and shops sell thier rubbish to recyclers.

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    Mute Peace for All
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    May 7th 2013, 1:17 PM

    Used to be like this until they brought in “No Deposit No Return”.

    Great idea and probably the cheapest and most effective way to deal with this issue. Currently there is no incentive to people to put value on their waste, Recycling companies get these raw materials for free.
    Is this the start of a new paradigm of common sense?

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    Mute Frank Brady
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    May 7th 2013, 7:36 AM

    We had this years ago.as a kids we used to make handy money for sweets by scavenging for bottles as we would get the deposit money.

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    Mute Sneachtaitall
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    May 7th 2013, 7:46 AM

    Not a glass bottle to be seen when we were kids, collecting them was our pocket money.

    This is not a new idea but i hope it takes off, too many cans, plastic bottles, bags etc blighting the country.

    97
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    Mute 1 Human Being
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    May 7th 2013, 7:27 AM

    Its a great idea. How about getting the soft drinks industry and the alcoholic drinks industry to supplement it. Maybe 0.05 cent per can so there would be some sort of incentive to collect them.

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    Mute Colin Davenport
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    May 7th 2013, 8:31 AM

    I’m on holiday in Finland at the moment where a similar system is in place. They had a huge party last week (Vappu), kind of like St Patrick’s day, and there were poor people cleaning up the bottles and cans all over the city for some cash as the day went on. Better than begging for them, and a cleaner city at the end of the day. Bring it in to Ireland!!!

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    Mute Niall Donnelly
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    May 7th 2013, 7:28 AM

    It’s 9 cent per bottle in Germany. Not 25 %. The place where you bought the bottles must take them back without a receipt, it’s printed on the side of the can, so don’t know if it will work as so many drinks are brought down from the north. There are also automated machines in supermarkets that give a print out which can be refunded at the till. Charging 25% is another rip off idea. But apart from that its a great idea.

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    Mute Dave Murray
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    May 7th 2013, 8:59 AM

    It’s 25c for most plastic bottles so there is a huge incentive to return them [they call the system Pfand or "ransom]“.
    If you’re a tourist, it’s doesn’t work too well because you don’t want to be hanging around supermarkets returning bottles when you’re on holiday.
    But if you’re a local just doing your weekly shopping, it looks like a really good idea alright.

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    Mute robert murphy
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    May 7th 2013, 10:46 AM

    Hi Niall.

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    Mute Lynton Hartill
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    May 7th 2013, 8:32 AM

    This should be introduced with any need for a debate. Its all positive. Other European countries have been doing it for years. Should include glass bottles too.

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    Mute Colin C
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    May 7th 2013, 9:14 AM

    This makes far too much sense to ever be implemented.

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    Mute Diarmuid O Donovan
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    May 7th 2013, 8:28 AM

    Lets see how long this will take to bring into effect, a great idea that will probably never actually happen.

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    Mute Alan Burke
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    May 7th 2013, 8:19 AM

    Well I’m off up the canal now to collect a few hundred empty cans, could be a nice few quid in this.

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    Mute Chris Mansfield
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    May 7th 2013, 8:18 AM

    Why restrict it to alcohol containers?

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    Mute Rehabmeerkat
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    May 7th 2013, 9:06 AM

    In other countries it’s not….

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    Mute Malachi Shanks
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    May 7th 2013, 8:45 AM

    A guy in the US collects cans just for something to do ( on disability) and has been saving the money in an account for 10 years , his wife got her first look at it recently , 50 thousand dollars . True story , friend of my mums .

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    Mute Lee Casey
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    May 7th 2013, 7:49 AM

    Knowing our lot they will tax the cans and bottles before you even purchase.

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    Mute Phil Dargan
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    May 7th 2013, 8:13 AM

    That’s the idea. You pay the tax, return for refund. No return = no refund, proceeds go to anti litter measures (supposedly).

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    Mute Dave Sherman
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    May 7th 2013, 8:34 AM

    Like road tax was to be spent on the roads?

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    Mute Nikolas Koehler
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    May 7th 2013, 12:21 PM

    It’s not a tax, it’s a deposit. Different things.

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    Mute Michael McGuinness
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    May 7th 2013, 8:13 AM

    We use to do that when I was a child bring the bottle back get money or sweets.

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    Mute David O'Reilly
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    May 7th 2013, 8:36 AM

    Great idea, I always wondered why they don’t do this here! Lived in Canada for a bit and we used to keep our recycling and get a few bucks for beer money, everyone did it, and for the cans that were left over, a lot of the homeless people would collect them, place was litter free

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    Mute Siobhan O'Brien
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    May 7th 2013, 9:07 AM

    This is a no brainer. Should be the norm like other countries but like everything here requires debate, discussion, legislation!!!! Jez

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    Mute Amy gaffney
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    May 7th 2013, 8:14 AM

    For those of us with recycle bins, this is just an additional tax. I’m not going to spend the money on the petrol to bring my cans down to a centre to receive €1/€2 back when I can just throw them in the blue bin. Just make blue bins mandatory.

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    Mute Rehabmeerkat
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    May 7th 2013, 9:08 AM

    I assume you go to a supermarket once a week ! In Holland, they are inside the tescos etc.

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    Mute Nikolas Koehler
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    May 7th 2013, 10:15 AM

    You bring them back to a shop that sells things in bottles. 8 cent per glass Boyle, 15 or 25 cent per plastic bottle.

    As a system it works well.

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    Mute Amy gaffney
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    May 7th 2013, 11:21 AM

    I do go to a supermarket once a week, but my point is I’m already paying for a bin to recycle cans and a bin to recycle bottles. They’re right outside my back door, so why make it more effort for people to recycle? I understand the incentive for areas that maybe don’t have a recycling service from their waste collector but I think bringing in legislation across the board could be counter productive and neglecting the fact that a lot of people already recycle this way. They know as much too, it’s a smart manoeuvre, because they know that for every hundred cans sold, they’ll probably only have to reimburse for 40-50%, at best.

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    Mute Stephen Browner
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    May 7th 2013, 12:05 PM

    It’s not an incentive for you Amy. I wouldn’t be arsed bringing bags of cans down just for 2 quid either. It’s for the chavs who just dump their trash anywhere because they they need their bin tag money for sweet sweet boozin’. While I like the idea I’m not mad about these jerks being paid to not litter.

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    Mute Nikolas Koehler
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    May 7th 2013, 12:24 PM

    No-one would be paid not to litter. The money was yours to begin with, you just get your own money back when you bring back your empties. It is not a tax, and, in countries that run such schemes, the unclaimed deposits do not go to the government, they are kept by the shop to reimburse them for the deposit they pay to the bottles for the deposit they have to the bottles for the bottles in the first place.

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    Mute Stephen Ring
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    May 7th 2013, 7:25 AM

    Not a bad concept but cans and bottles aren’t the only things dumped. Will they introduce a similar deposit on cigarette butts and chewing gum?

    And it depends on the figure aswell. .10c isn’t enough of a deterrent while €1 may stifle sales so the balance is important also.

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    Mute Liam
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    May 7th 2013, 8:09 AM

    The people who throw away cigarette butts onto the street only throw few away, the idea that they would keep them so that they could get a small refund from them is never going to work, the same goes for chewing gum, I couldn’t imaging anyone carrying around used chewing gum in their pockets while they go to “deposit” them at a destined place. The cans and bottles idea is a good one though.

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    Mute Nelly
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    May 7th 2013, 10:53 AM

    @stepehn you can buy 24 bottles go €20.how would a euro per bottle work?

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    Mute Rehabmeerkat
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    May 7th 2013, 9:04 AM

    The Netherlands has a scheme also …. Says alot about the dopes in repak who did the research

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    Mute Áine Hynes
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    May 7th 2013, 8:51 AM

    Great idea!!

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    Mute Will Monaghan
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    May 7th 2013, 9:03 AM

    I don’t know about anywhere else, but, here in sligo, it’s 4 euro to bring the recycling.
    It would be nice to even get 4 cent back.!

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    Mute David Newman
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    May 7th 2013, 9:18 AM

    I’ve lived on The Netherlands and Norway and this is common practice here. For each case of 24 glass bottles I used get around 4-5 euro back as far as I remember.

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    Mute John Teevan
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    May 7th 2013, 9:40 AM

    i collect cans and kick em around my garden cause it reminds me of being at festivals ,im going 2 be minted feck talking get walking

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    Mute Danielle Reck
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    May 7th 2013, 10:16 AM

    This approach works wonders in Germany. People store up their plastic bags and bottles and get about 25cent back on each one. Also the streets are immaculate because the homeless go about collecting discarded bags and bottles to make a little bit of money for themselves. Enough to put a good meal in their belly and keep them going each day

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    Mute vusi
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    May 7th 2013, 9:10 AM

    Final , thank you, we will have a clean forestry .

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    Mute Tara Tevlin
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    May 7th 2013, 9:14 AM

    They do that in Barbados was great!!

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    Mute Eileen Moloney
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    May 7th 2013, 9:10 AM

    Income liable for usc..how will that b collected?

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    Mute Natalie May
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    Jul 5th 2013, 8:48 AM

    they do it in corfu – you pay 10 cents on a bottle – glass beer bottles only – no matter the size and when you return it you are refunded the money. Count em in count em out.
    Never saw dumped glass bottles in corfu – even the tourists did it.

    1
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