Re-Turn Plastic Bottles

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Don't be surprised if one of the impacts of this scheme is that your bin charges go up. The most valuable \ recoverable items have been removed from the green bins which would covering the cost of recycling \ sorting other items.
 
Don't be surprised if one of the impacts of this scheme is that your bin charges go up. The most valuable \ recoverable items have been removed from the green bins which would covering the cost of recycling \ sorting other items.
I'd expect that to happen withing the year.
 
It doesn't matter whether retailers are in the scheme or not, they have to charge the deposit. They can apply for an exemption from the return scheme

Items purchased from before Feb 1st are out of scope. Retailers have 4 months to work old stock out the door.


Some retailers are charging the deposit on items that are out of scope i.e. old stock. They are applying the deposit to all cans and bottles without regard to whether they are in scope of the scheme or not. Widespread reports of this happening across social media.

The deposit should only be charged on returnable items. That should have meant those with Re-turn logo but that was messed up. Now we have situations where retail managers don't seem to know what the rules are.
 
Items purchased from before Feb 1st are out of scope. Retailers have 4 months to work old stock out the door.
And it would appear that items purchased after the 1st of Feb with the added deposit cost are also out of scope!!!

In my opinion if they want and need the public to buy into this they certainly aren't going about it in a right or fair way
And the powers that be should wake up and do it properly and not be given us these half arsed solutions that are going to add to the problem rather than helping
 
Some retailers are charging the deposit on items that are out of scope i.e. old stock.
But old-stock doesn't render them out of scope, scope is purely designated on the material (PET, aluminium, steel) and container size (150ml - 3 litres).
 
The bottles I tried to return are the same as is on sale in Dunnes at the moment which I presume has the price increase €3.15 for a 2 Litre Diet 7up
Might have spotted a "small" but crucial error in my opening post and why the Diet 7Up bottle didn't work in the Re-Turn machine
The bottle I tried to return was bought in December for €3.10 the price on the shelve yesterday was €3.15
I incorrectly presumed the new price of €3.15 included the deposit €0.25
So the machine was right to reject my bottle as the deposit has not and is not been charged at the moment on this item in Dunnes
And it would appear that retailers do have discretion in whether they charge the deposit on old pre logo stock
:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
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But old-stock doesn't render them out of scope, scope is purely designated on the material (PET, aluminium, steel) and container size (150ml - 3 litres).

If you are charging the deposit on items that won't be registered in the Re-turn scheme, and that includes old stock, they are out of scope. You cannot have a situation where deposit is being charged on items for which it is impossible to redeem the deposit. We are currently in transition period, as noted by other posters, which runs for 4 months, during which such items can be sold off without deposit.
 
If you are charging the deposit on items that won't be registered in the Re-turn scheme, and that includes old stock, they are out of scope. You cannot have a situation where deposit is being charged on items for which it is impossible to redeem the deposit. We are currently in transition period, as noted by other posters, which runs for 4 months, during which such items can be sold off without deposit.
Crazy situation if retailers are charging deposits if customers can't get them returned.
 
If you are charging the deposit on items that won't be registered in the Re-turn scheme, and that includes old stock, they are out of scope.
No, the scope is clearly defined in the legislation, and nowhere in there does it make any stipulation on acceptance by the reverse vending machines. The presence of the logo is not supposed to be a requirement on obtaining a refund for a container on which you were charged a deposit.
 
No, the scope is clearly defined in the legislation, and nowhere in there does it make any stipulation on acceptance by the reverse vending machines. The presence of the logo is not supposed to be a requirement on obtaining a refund for a container on which you were charged a deposit.

I'm not sure what point you are trying to make.

This is on the actual Re-turn website - this was the original plan for the scheme:

PET plastic drinks containers, steel and aluminum cans between 150ml and 3 litres that show the Re-turn logo are accepted.

They had to add this extra information after the rollout:
*To prevent waste, for a limited period, from 1 February there will be some stock of plastic bottles and cans that may not feature the Re-turn logo. Should consumers be charged a deposit on these drinks containers, please be assured that you will get your deposit back when you return to RVM Deposit Return Points nationwide.

This explains the transitional arrangements:

Starting February 1, 2024, retailers have a 4-month transition period during which they can sell both new drinks containers with the Re-turn logo and older drinks containers that do not feature this logo. During this time, drinks containers can incur a deposit in two ways:
  • By having the Re-turn logo with a registered barcode
  • By having a barcode that is registered as part of the scheme without the Re-turn logo.
During the transition period, there will be old drink containers without a logo and with barcode not registered with the scheme; these drinks containers will not incur a deposit charge.

However what is actually happening is that customers are being charged a deposit on these drinkers containers AND they are not getting their deposit back at the RVMs.
 
I'm not sure what point you are trying to make.
You said old stock was out of scope for the scheme, I was just correcting that, and included a link to the legislation under which the scope is defined.

The details you quote above confirm that point that old stock without the logo, on which a deposit is charged is in scope, again, that is within the definition in the legislation.
 
You said old stock was out of scope for the scheme, I was just correcting that, and included a link to the legislation under which the scope is defined.

The details you quote above confirm that point that old stock without the logo, on which a deposit is charged is in scope, again, that is within the definition in the legislation.
Ok thanks for the clarification, I wasn't sure if you meant all old stock. Some old stock on the shelves should not be charged a deposit, it should only be charged on those items registered with the scheme.
 
Ok thanks for the clarification, I wasn't sure if you meant all old stock. Some old stock on the shelves should not be charged a deposit, it should only be charged on those items registered with the scheme.
Yes that's my understanding, that a deposit can only be charged on the condition that the customer can reclaim the deposit back
So only products that are registered in the scheme can have the deposit added to the sale price
 
By the way, it would make sense if the machines were tweaked to accept damaged cans/plastic with/without the deposit charged. AFAIK the bar-code is what is important to get a refund, but if damaged, it can't read the bar code properly and give a refund.

However, its better that emptys are still swallowed by the machine, rather than the user having to bring emptys home. You can be sure that for certain individuals, these emptys will be tossed into hedgrows or car-parks, or if we are lucky, just a rubbish bin. But point being the chances of slighly dented cans being recycled is diminished and certain indiduals will blame the GUVMENT or GREENS that done it etc etc...rather than realising its their living environment and we are a bit behind the curve in optaining return rates for plastic and that the towns /countryside are teeming with disgarded litter.

In Finland , where the system is in place for 50years, machine were programmed to spit back the damaged cans/plastics/bottles, until common sense prevailed and machine swallows a bottle/can/glass , regardless of its condition.
 
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Don't be surprised if one of the impacts of this scheme is that your bin charges go up. The most valuable \ recoverable items have been removed from the green bins which would covering the cost of recycling \ sorting other items.
I wonder what are the most valuable items ....
 
What does the logo look like ?
We normally buy 5lts bottles of water every week but last week Tesco didn’t have any so we ended up buying 3x12 500mm bottles instead.

The cashier in Tesco charged us a deposit but it doesn’t seem like we have any re turn logo on it
 
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