{"id":566438,"date":"2026-07-03T05:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T05:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/566438\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T05:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T05:57:11","slug":"record-5-8m-drinks-containers-returned-in-one-day-under-re-turn-deposit-return-scheme-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/566438\/","title":{"rendered":"Record 5.8m drinks containers returned in one day under Re-turn deposit return scheme \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland\u2019s deposit return scheme<\/a> saw a record 5.8 million drinks containers returned to machines across the country on Saturday June 27th.<\/p>\n

The figure is the highest ever in one single day, contributing to the more than 3 billion bottles and cans that have been returned via the scheme since its introduction in February 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery container returned helps keep valuable material in circulation, reduce litter and support a more circular economy,\u201d chief executive of Re-turn Ciar\u00e1n Foley said. <\/p>\n

Separately, a spokesman for Re-turn said a typical day in June this year saw less than five million returns on average. Around 800 million additional bottles and cans are now being recycled each year.<\/p>\n

However, Foley told RT\u00c9<\/a> Radio\u2019s David McCullagh<\/a> show on Thursday that 14 per cent of plastic bottles and drinks cans were going through mixed dry recycling, which remains an issue. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0The trouble with the Deposit Return Scheme: \u2018They\u2019re sitting on a pile of unclaimed deposits\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The overall target is to reach 90 per cent returns by 2029; currently the level is between 78 per cent and 79 per cent. Foley said \u201cwith a bit more education\u201d that figure can achieved.<\/p>\n

Foley said people don\u2019t realise that they were \u201cgiving their money away\u201d by putting Re-turn items in their domestic recycle bins and also urged those not interested in the voucher to donate it instead.<\/p>\n

On the problem of scavenging through bins, which has led to some littering problems, Foley said, \u201cMost people who are rummaging through bins do so in a respectful way but we fully accept that there\u2019s an issue.\u201d Dublin City Council<\/a> recently said it had spent \u20ac857,000 on bin repairs and additional clean-ups as a result of such scavenging.<\/p>\n

Re-turn says it is currently working through the findings of its independent research and is working with Dublin City Council on solving the issue.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0DCC suggested limiting return scheme to those with registered waste collection to reduce bin scavengingOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Re-turn spokesman said more than \u20ac940,000 has been donated directly to charities and community groups via the donation feature enabled on 1,700 of the 2,800 machines across Ireland.<\/p>\n

He said more than 5,200 schools, clubs, charities and community groups are using the scheme to raise funds for local causes.<\/p>\n

Re-turn separately has raised \u20ac515,000 for six children\u2019s charities including Jack and Jill Children\u2019s Foundation and Make-A-Wish Ireland.<\/p>\n

The spokesman said the scheme has helped clubs such as Meath Camogie, which raised \u20ac270,000 through the scheme to support the development of its new grounds.<\/p>\n

Research has shown the returns scheme was popular, with 78 per cent of people viewing it as a good thing, and 96 per cent of people saying they had used it, he said.<\/p>\n

Foley said the progress is \u201cthanks to the people of Ireland, who have embraced the scheme and made returning bottles and cans part of everyday life\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland\u2019s deposit return scheme saw a record 5.8 million drinks containers returned to machines across the country on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[74],"tags":[24554,46093,784,18,19,17,241747,30859,1181,82],"class_list":["post-566438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-david-mccullagh","tag-deposit-return-scheme","tag-dublin-city-council","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jack-and-jill-childrens-foundation","tag-meath-gaa","tag-rte","tag-technology"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}