Bottling it? - Ireland’s Deposit Return Scheme

You know, when I started blogging, I imagined writing about the latest gadgets, visits to some of the most remarkable places on this planet, or profound insights gained from an interesting life. And yet, here I am, thirteen years later, writing about bottles. Yeah…

Anyway, questionable life choices aside, the topic at hand actually makes quite a lot of sense. No, really, hear me out before you call the men with the straitjackets. You see, when I first moved to Ireland, all the way back in 2012, one of the more jarring differences that I noticed between Ireland and Germany was the cavalier manner in which the locals here in Cork discarded bottles and cans all over the place. Back in Germany, I’d long since gotten used to the local Pfand return system for bottles and cans. I never really understood why such a system wasn’t in place here in Ireland. After all, it worked in Germany, and while it hadn’t eliminated the issue of bottle littering, it had certainly reduced it.

Well, it has taken Ireland twelve years, but as of February 2024, Re-Turn, the nationwide deposit return scheme for bottles and cans, is live. And, as you might expect, along with the usual hiccups and teething troubles that are all but assured when launching any solution at scale, it has triggered a vociferous outcry on social media, with it being called anything from a scam to a failure to a rip-off to yet another step in the subjugation of “de Irish” by some nebulous cabal. I wish I was making that last part up. It always boggles my mind how the core demographic behind this hysterical screeching, who are overwhelmingly male, often my age or older and in the middle of life, act with a level of petulance and entitlement that is more akin to a five-year-old, and would have landed five year old me in the dog house for weeks.

However, if you put this hysteria aside, the system has had quite its share of stumbles and issues since it started back on February 1st 2024. From bottles that weren’t Re-Turn compliant to RVMs not accepting bottles, having mechanical failures or quite simply not being turned on or even installed, there have definitely been bumps. However, are these issues a sign of a poorly designed system, or simply due to retailers trying to pull a fast one on consumers yet again? Well, given that this thing is here to stay, and given that this type of system is very familiar to me already, there was only one way for me to find out.

The System

This is the bone of contention. Well, actually it’s a Re-Turn RVM at my local Tesco, but I’m sure you get the point.

When you strip away all of the hullabaloo and hyperbole, Re-Turn, the Irish Deposit Return Recycling System, is actually quite a simple proposition. Basically, with every purchase of a drinks bottle or can that is covered under the system, a small deposit is added in addition to the regular price. This is clearly delineated on the receipt. Once said can or bottle has done its duty and disgorged its content, it can be returned at any participating retailer, more often than not by use of a RVM or Reverse Vending Machine, which is the only scenario that I’ll be looking at for the remainder of this blog post. These machines will then print a voucher which you can either exchange for cash or redeem against the value of a purchase at the store where the bottles are being returned. The deposit itself is two-tiered, with bottles & cans between 150ml and 500ml having a 0,15€ deposit and those between 500ml and 3l having a 0,25€ deposit. It’s worth noting that only plastic bottles and aluminum cans are covered by the system, glass bottles are not affected. What’s more, any participating can or bottle can be returned at any participating retailer.

Taking pictures of bottles, that’s what it’s gotten to… sigh… Either way, the Re-Turn logo next to the barcode signifies that these two bottles are compatible with the system. Spoiler alert: they actually were…

In a lot of ways, this system is a mirror of the Pfand system I’m still familiar with from my days in Germany. In fact, in one crucial aspect, this system is actually superior. Back in Germany, the major retail chains had somehow managed to ensure that own-brand bottles, such as Lidl’s “Freeway” Ice Tea for example, could only be returned at the retailer that sold that particular brand. So if you were like me and spread your weekend shop between the likes of Rewe or Edeka and discounters such as Lidl or Aldi, you’d have to sort out your bottles before returning them, because a Rewe RVM would not accept a Lidl bottle and vice versa. By eliminating this divide, Ireland has actually managed to beat Germany, and the whole system sounds pretty good. It’s also long overdue.

In Practice

But all of that is just the theory, and does not necessarily reflect reality. Re-Turn went live on February 1st 2024, and while all major retailers in the Cork suburb where I live had set up RVMs in the weeks prior to the roll-out, not a single Re-Turn compatible bottle could be found at any of the retailers. While this was hardly an auspicious start for the system, it is worth keeping in mind that we are currently in a transition phase, and retailers have until June 1st 2024 to sell off any non-Re-Turn stock. It took until February 10th for the first compatible bottles showed up in my local supermarket, ironically a Dunnes Stores, which in my experience has been the stodgiest and most parochial retail brand here in Ireland. Yet  here they were, leading the way, ahead of the likes of Aldi, Lidl, or Tesco.

Meanwhile, in a sign of the times, the usual social media platforms were inundated with stories of RVMs not being working, or in some cases not even being plugged in or set up, not accepting bottles or cans, or retailers, smaller ones in particular, trying to pull a fast one on their customers, with some customers trying to reciprocate the favour. My local Tesco didn’t exactly help matters when their own bank of RVMs still wasn’t operational even one month after being installed.

The load for the first test.

My local Dunnes Stores has set up their pair of RVMs right between the coffee counter and the customer service desk.

The machine is simple enough, as are the instructions.

This is what the bag in the earlier picture yielded.

Against this background, I had my first brush with the system at the end of February. I’d managed to amass enough bottles to make a trip to an RVM worth it, and so, my first port of call was the local Dunnes Stores, who had set up two RVMs next to the customer service counter & express check-outs. It couldn’t have gone smoother. The system accepted every bottle at the first try, identified them correctly and printed the voucher without me even having to ask for it. The voucher was also accepted without issues at the check-out, although I used a regular check-out for this, so I’m not sure if the self-service checkouts are able to accept these vouchers as well.

Rather than sacrificing floor space inside the store, which was never great to begin with, Aldi opted to set up their RVMs in a pavilion outside.

This is not just a bottle, it’s an M&S bottle… Okay, vomit-inducing advertising aside, this cross-retailer capability of Re-Turn, with every retailer made to accept every bottle, is a massive convenience plus for the system.

This bottle is another one that was purchased at a different store, I think it came from a SuperValu. Yep, it might not seem like much, but it’s a massive improvement over the way the German “Pfand” system works.

It ain’t much, but it’s honest work…

It took me until St. Patrick’s Day to gather enough bottles for a second run. To shake things up, I decided to head to my local Aldi, using a wild mix of own-brand bottles from multiple retailers as well as the usual big brand names. Despite this mixed “payload”, the RVM had no problem at all accepting all of those bottles and the voucher was printed promptly. However, for whatever reason, the voucher could not be scanned at the till. The cashier eventually resorted to typing in the code on the voucher, which then worked flawlessly. It’ll be interesting to see if this keeps up.

Why do am I suddenly hearing boss music playing? These RVMs at Tesco haven’t exactly inspired confidence since they were installed in early 2024.

It worked fine for me though.

I had the voucher in my hand in no time.

Finally, there was the final boss, the dreaded Tesco RVMs. Pretty much every time I’d been at my local Tesco since the start of the system, I’d seen those machines either shut down, out of action, or causing significant headache. So, I was a bit sceptical when I went there to drop off another mixed payload of bottles. However, despite my trepidations, the machine worked flawlessly, and while the staff at my local Tesco has definitely gotten weirder over the last few months, the voucher was accepted without questions and scanned instantly.

Conclusion

So, with nearly two months of operations under its belt, how does the system stack up? Well, if my experience is anything to go by, it’s doing exactly what it’s supposed to. Using it was never really an issue for me, given my prior experience in Germany, and I have no compunctions about continuing to use it. It’s easy and convenient, and doesn’t cost me a cent. I won’t write another blog post about it though, you can forget about that. I didn’t get a brand new, expensive phone with great cameras just to fill my camera roll with pictures of bottles!

All joking aside though, I really can’t understand why so much vitriol is directed at Re-Turn. The system is doing what it’s designed to do. The real question is whether retailers are playing straight with their customers, and here I have serious doubts, especially when it comes to the local franchise operators and smaller chains. Pulling a fast one seems to be a bit of a popular sport here in Ireland, and it seems some retailers are trying to join the fray with regards to Re-Turn. I really hope that the hammer is brought down on those retailers sooner rather than later!