Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 March 2024
96. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the up to date position on the operation of the deposit return scheme; if he has an early indication of the per centage of eligible units being returned; the feedback from consumers and businesses; if any snags or abuses have surfaced; if he plans to expand the scheme to cover other packaging types; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11125/24]
View answerA national Deposit Return Scheme or DRS has been introduced for single use PET plastic bottles and aluminium and steel cans. DRS aims to boost the recycling rate for these beverage containers by charging a small, refundable deposit to customers at the point of sale.
Materials included in the DRS are those for which Ireland faces immediate, challenging EU recycling targets. The EU Single Use Plastics Directive sets a recycling target of 77% by 2025 and 90% by 2029 for single use plastic beverage bottles. The EU Packaging Directive, which is currently under revision, also sets targets for individual packaging streams, including a recycling target for aluminium of 50% by 2025 and 60% by 2030.
A separate DRS for other packaging materials is not envisaged at this time, however my Department continues to assess the best approach to dealing with other materials, which may in the future include new schemes such as deposit return, extended producer responsibility, levies on single use packaging items or outright prohibitions similar to those introduced under the EU's Single Use Plastics Directive.
The DRS was launched on the 1st February 2024 and the DRS operator, Re-turn, and my Department have been monitoring its progress closely. It is not possible to provide a percentage of products returned as data is respect of deposits charged is collected from retailers monthly in arrears and will not be available until later in March. However, to date 3.9 million containers have been returned by customers, of which 1.8 million (46%) are plastic bottles and 2.1 million (54%) are cans. This represents €683,270 in deposits refunded.
Both the Department and Re-turn, the DRS operator, are monitoring the scheme closely and I receive regular updates on its performance. Feedback has from consumers and businesses have been largely positive but, as is expected with any new scheme, some issues are being reported. Some examples include confusion over barcodes and labels and RVM downtime and rejections. These issues are being addressed by Re-turn.
