No 'can' do: deposit return scheme a 'disaster'

BY DAVID FORSYTHE

THE new Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for plastic bottles and drink cans has been branded a ‘disaster’ in West Cork.

FF councillor Joe Carroll told a meeting of Cork County Council’s Western Division that he ‘could write a book’ with the number of complaints he was getting about the scheme.

‘This is one of the greatest failures ever. If there is a mark or a dent they won’t take them. This is affecting small traders, too, because they don’t have the machines and it’s making everyone go to the big supermarkets. It’s almost making things worse and these machines are costing €16,000 or €17,000 I’m told. Who got the contract for that?’

FG councillor Kevin Murphy said his wife was unable to recycle up to half the bottles she brought to the machine last week. ‘This scheme is a disaster,’ he said.

‘My wife went to the machine last week and half the bottles were not accepted. People should be getting every penny back and that’s not happening now.’

Bantry councillor Danny Collins said that the scheme did not take into account the needs of older people in particular.

‘Elderly people who use a local shop for their few bits instead of a big supermarket, are they supposed to get a taxi into town now? They don’t go to big supermarkets. They should have these machines at the recycling sites so everybody can use them. We need to write to the government about this,’ he said.

Louis Duffy, director of services at Cork County Council’s environment directorate, accepted that there were issues with the scheme.

‘There are a lot of issues at the moment, but it was always anticipated there would be a three or four-month rollout. Any reports of issues are welcome so we can report back to the Department. No retailer should be out of pocket, the increased charge is charged to the consumer who then claims it back, so it shouldn’t cost any retailer.’

He added that installing machines at recycling sites was not currently on the agenda as the return scheme is based on a full “polluter pays” principle.

‘Installing machines should not come at any cost to Cork County Council,’ he said.