Vol. 273 No. 8
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will take action to encourage greater use of returnable glass bottles, in view of the findings of the National Prices Commission in their report on beer and soft drinks that such bottles are the least costly and give bottlers an opportunity of reducing prices to the consumer.
22.
asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will consider facilitating the recovery of returnable glass bottles by requiring each retailer to display a list of all the returnable bottles sold by him together with a standard price which he is legally obliged to pay for them on return.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 21 and 22 together.
As the reports of the National Prices Commission referred to by the Deputy have stressed the cost of soft drinks brought for domestic consumption is much less if packed in returnable bottles rather than in non-returnable containers. One would have hoped that a cost-conscious public would have forced the greater use of returnable bottles but so far this has not been the case. The great variety of sizes, shapes and prices of containers and the nature of outlets would make it difficult if not impossible to prescribe rules about the return of returnable bottles. I should certainly wish to encourage the increasing use of returnable containers and I shall ask the National Consumers Advisory Council if they can make any suggestions as to how best this could be done.
(Dublin Central): It is desirable that people should be encouraged to return them not alone from the costing point of view but from the disposal point of view afterwards. It amazes me how disposable bottles are got rid of and I feel sure local authorities have quite a problem in collecting this refuse.
I agree with the Deputy that it is a desirable that returnable containers should be used as much as possible but many goods are sold through supermarkets and self-service outlets nowadays and these people are very space conscious. The space occupied by an empty bottle is the same as that occupied by a full bottle and for this reason they are not keen to promote the sale of goods in returnable bottles. This is part of the problem.
