*Gerry Connellan.
SHOP OWNERS in Clare have said it will take time for the Deposit Return Scheme to be a success.
Ireland’s Deposit Return Scheme went live on February 1st, bottles or cans purchased before this period are not eligible for a deposit refund.
From 1 February onwards, when consumers purchase a drink in a plastic bottle or aluminium can featuring the Re-turn logo, they will pay a fully refundable deposit in addition to the price of the drink. When the empty and undamaged drinks containers are returned to participating shops and supermarkets nationwide, consumers will receive their full deposit refund.
Consumers can return these empty undamaged drinks containers to shops and supermarkets either through a Reverse Vending Machine (RVM) or manually, over the counter. Consumers receive the deposit back when they return the plastic bottle or can with the Re-turn logo that is empty and undamaged to participating shops and supermarkets nationwide.
A deposit of 15 cents will apply to each container from 150ml – 500mls and a deposit of 25 cents for containers over 500ml to 3 litres.
Twenty six Clare stores have set up their deposit return points. They include Aldi’s stores in Ennis, Ennistymon and Kilrush, Carryout in Drumgeely, Dealz in Shannon, SuperValu outlets in Ennistymon, Killaloe, Kilrush, Miltown Malbay and Tulla, Centra’s stores in Ardnacrusha, Corofin, Kildysart, Scariff, Sixmilebridge plus Lynch’s and Ryan’s Centra in Ennis, Dunnes Stores in Ennis and Shannon, Fine Wines on the Mill Rd in Ennis and Roslevan, Liddy’s Eurospar, Lidl in Ennis and Shannon, Mace in Shannon and Maxol in Clarecastle.
Trish Rodgers, co-owner of Rodgers Centra in Scariff admitted that the initial response to the scheme had been quiet. “It will take a little bit of adjustment from the customer’s point of view, it is a different concept because people are used to bringing back glass and other items so it will take time. There is a little bit of confusion around barcodes, the expectation is that there would be a logo on the bottom which would highlight that the item was returnable, that hasn’t been the case, some bottles don’t have the logo on it and yet they’ve been charged the deposit and it can be returned. It will take time, there is a different layer of paperwork to it. It is an expensive machine to put in, we’re probably the only shop in East Clare with it at the minute, it will get busy when barcodes come online, people have to be patient and we’ll all have to be patient because it will take time”.
Blips are expected in the early days due to the technology, Trish predicted. “When the little return label becomes obvious on the barcode I think that is when it will really take off, at the moment we’re highlighting to customers that they are being charged and to mind their bottle before bringing it back. It is on very few bottles at the moment, suppliers have until the 21st of May to get compliant so you’d expect from mid-April on that 90 percent of bottles will have the return logo and I think then it will be very obvious to customers what can and cannot go back”.
She told The Clare Echo, “Sometimes you would think the whole thing should be set up in a recycling centre because that is where people are already going with their glass bottles, you’d imagine that would have been a better way to do it but equally people are charged the deposit so you probably couldn’t get a deposit back at a recycling centre. When you pay a deposit, you go to get it back so it is cost neutral, it will be a mindset change”.
Small businesses are likely to be impacted more by the introduction of the scheme, Trish felt. “It will affect small businesses because whether you are big or small if you have the machine you have to charge the deposit, if you have the machine where the customer can bring it back to you and not somebody else they can get their deposit there, it does have an impact on small businesses”.
Among these smaller stores is The Abbey Newsagency in Ennis which due to its size was both unable and exempt from installing a DRS machine. Store owner, Gerry Connellan told The Clare Echo, “I’ll be putting the 15c on from the wholesale price and 25c on the bigger cans, this is where I see the issues because they will be coming with their cans and bottles to the bigger stores, getting their vouchers or money back from the bigger stores which will leave the smaller stores out. What should be happening is putting in deposit machines all over the place in the towns, the Government should be utilising their own money for these machines instead of getting the bigger stores to buy the €15,000 and €30,000 machines and leaving us out of the equation completely”.
More machinces are needed to make it a success, Gerry believed. “A return scheme is good to try get rid of the bottles but we’ve to see how it works in print”. He added, “It will take some time but long-term it will work”.
