What's this Shite ?? - Re-turn logo on bottles and cans !!!

[Wendysfriend]

Who the heck came up with this scheme ? An added charge to plastic and aluminium and the only way to get this back is by bringing your crap back to a shop, empty, un damaged and shove it in the machine for a refund .

So I've to pay extra to buy these items, not put them in my recycling bin and walk up to the shop with bags of cans and bottles to get my money back . Is this for real ?

If I do put them into my recycling bin, it means, I've paid either 15c or 25c extra per item at the checkout and now I'm going to pay my bin company too, to take them away .

Surely this can't be right ? It's like I'm back in the 70s bringing my bottles back to the shop, maybe I'll wheel the whole feckin wheelie bin up to the shop

Not everyone is lazy skanks, as I said above they assumed we're all the same, we all are abled bodied, we all have cars 24/7, we all visit supermarkets regularly, we all buy a handful of bottles etc but.... We're not, my shopping is 100% online, we're down to one car, I have 7 people here where I buy a lot of water, my kids take 2lt with them every day, my youngest who's disabled drinks 2 X 500 mls in school everyday, that's a lot of water, plus we've cans of stuff and whatever else we all drink. I can't be trying to get and lift 10lt water bottles to fill old bottles. One of my sister's is disabled she doesn't go into supermarkets, she drinks a lot, how does she manage, tie the bottles and cans to her wheelchair. The 500ml/750ml bottles are handy for her to use due to her disability, she'd never manage a larger bottle. None of us can drink our tap water, before introducing this the water should have been sorted but it hasn't in over 35 years ago it's not going to be now.

This was obviously introduced to stop the one bottle use, the people who pop into a shop or cafe and who are obviously flinging their bottles on the ground, it's not the households who are using multi packs and using their wheelie bins. Maybe they should have fixed the rubbish bins issue across Ireland so people can use them, you can travel miles and not see a rubbish bin or if you do it's full .

I'm usually first to complain when something happens here, but I usually research it and welcome the change but this has absolutely no good points for people who use a lot of bottles and cans, people who depend on online shopping, people who don't drive, people who are disabled, people who can't carry 10lt bottles due to age, health, backs, etc our drinks don't come in other packaging, we the consumer are being punished for this .

Nope. No frothing. Jusr pissed off with people who can't see beyond the end of their own nose.

You should all maybe also know that in Germany and in other EU countries there is no wheelie bin for recycling .We have to bring all our paper, plastic other than bottles and cans to recycling centres that are in our neighbourhoods .Our landfill bins are quarter the size of the bins in Ireland so we have no option to recycle everything .Be ready for that change too but do it for the future of the planet and your children.

Do you have accessible recycling banks though? We don't here in lots of areas. As usual, it's a case of putting the cart before the horse here.

Yes , there are accessible recycling banks but it still takes discipline and of course time and space to separate all the rubbish that accumulates in every household also bearing in mind that many people live in apartments with small kitchens .In our neighbourhood much of this work ie. bringing away the separated recycling and bottles is delegated to the children in the family . My kids were often allowed to keep the money so it was also an incentive and also taught them from an early age to take responsibility for their environment.

What do the people who are disabled do ?

I presume if they do not have anyone to help them, they get their drinks delivered .There are also shops other than supermarkets called 'Getränkemarkte' that just sell drinks ie beer ,wine soft drinks ,water, spirits etc that also offer a delivery service .Beer is mostly sold in glass bottles as is water and delivered in crates which are then returned .There is a deposit for the glass bottles and also for the crate .As I mentioned in my previous post online drinks delivery services have also sprung up in recent years such as 'Flaschenpost' . they will deliver drinks to your door within a short space of time and take empty crates away .

We had this when I lived in Scandinavia. Was great after a house party you'd walk to the local shop and cash it all in. Good incentive to tidy up after a party

Good. Just as I'm pissed off with whingers who have to find the negative in anything new, even it's good for society in general.

They deliver here too but don't collect the empties so it's up to the person to get their bottles etc back to a shop.

This isn't achievable when you're housebound, or have no one helping you.

This wasn't taken into consideration when rolled out, it was assumed that everyone is the same and can just pop in and out shops when they felt like it.

It's all well and good introducing these schemes but many, many people can't comply and usually these people are not littering roads and streets and fields.

The people who think this is easy and no issue are the ones who are not around disabled people, when your life revolves around disabilities it's only then that you see how many people have different needs . The same for those who drive, they think sure just fill your car and bring them back, but again for many different reasons there are many who don't drive.

Whingers. Who can't walk 5 mins to the local shop, let alone the nearest drop off point. What exactly am i supposed to do here? I have fallen at bus stops before trying to get to work. I am not a 'whinger', i'm someone who can't get around like most people can. You have a seriously shitty attitude, and let me tell you, you never know what's around the corner health-wise, so i wouldn't be so smug/bitchy/nasty about other people's situations.

I have also got a physical hinderance to my mobility which limits my ability to get from A to B and very often suffer great pain with it so I understand your frustration .However the majority people are able bodied have cars and legs under them and will be able to bring their bottles back . Something has to be done to limit the use of single use plastics and this method has been used for over 20 years with great success in other countries .Of course there will be hiccups along the way and it will take some getting used to but it is the only way forward .Our kids will thank us for it.

The very first thing that should be done is have recycling points everywhere. The government haven't bothered their arses to do that. As usual, they're making a balls of it. And it is completely dismissive of people with mobility issues.

If you don't drive, unless you are getting your shopping delivered, you are carrying it home in the first place so take empties back next trip? I save my crisp packets and plastic to take back to the supermarket. Maybe some enterprising kids will start a collection in their local area like they used to do.

My husband does the shopping as i am housebound. He's wrecked himself physically between bad knees and bad back. We're hanging on by a very precarious thread. If they just put something accessible to us, it wouldn't be an issue. But they haven't. We are in a huge residential area, so there's no excuse not to have these facilities, but they have half arsed it as usual. I'm so pissed off that the greens say 'don't drive!' (fair enough) And in the same breath introduce these measures that discriminate against people who don't drive. We can't win here.

Agree. I'm a wheelchair user living in Denmark where this system has been in place all my 40+ life. I take a few bottles a time when relevant. It's really not the bother you seem to think it is. And I don't drive.

The recycling points are in all the shops .The rest ( plastics and paper)goes in the wheelie bin which is collected .

My nearest is 20 mins away.

We used to knock on neighbours’ doors asking for returnable bottles in the 60/70s! Not sure that’s advisable now.

You probably have a half decent public transport service. We don't.

It's been a scheme that has worked well in Germany for about 20 years.
It's great. Should be introduced everywhere

See above.

I understand that people living or have lived in other Countries with this scheme and how it worked, the reason it worked is because every situation was considered, every type of person was considered. it was not here.

With so many disabilities and elderly and people not able due to other health issues , it's impossible to say this works for everyone and everyone is included. The elderly and disabled are treated like scum of the earth here, I've seen it first hand and experienced many, many situations were the attitude is tough shit when it comes to providing any type of help or introducing new things that includes them. They're last on the list for everything.

If someone in Germany can get a bus to a recycling shop or wheel themselves, then that's fantastic, however in many cases people can't wheel themselves, the public transport is dire here for disabled people.

For example one sister can't wheel herself the distance to her nearest shop that signed up for the scheme, her wheelchair is not suitable for the distance which involves roads, it's also not suitable to carry a bag of bottles or cans, if she wants to use the bus, which remember outside of Dublin, you can't just get on, you need to book at least 24 hours in advance, so you'll either get the newer model bus with wheelchair space or an older model where they have to take out the seats, you can't just get on, the diver has to help you on, belt you in, also wheelchairs can't just get off at any stop, there are designated bus stops for wheelchairs, so you can actually end up further away from where you actually want to go, also you can't just get a bus back at any time, you need to know which bus and time you're traveling back and book that 24 hours in advance. It's stressful enough doing this just trying to get to a shop, but having to add in extra journeys to bring bottles back is crazy. This is why my sister gets online shopping. Public transport here is nothing like Germany.

2000 shops signed up to the scheme, that's a very low number for the size of Ireland. It shows immediately that people will have to travel to get to one .

You only have to read the online comments about this, people who have cars and are able bodied have no problems with this, it's the people who are not abled bodied who do and those who can't drink tap water and elderly, no cars, health issues, why isn't everyone included ? Why wasn't this done properly. People don't realise that not everyone is able to do this there are thousands of people left unable to bring back bottles and cans but still have to pay the extra charge. Not everyone has people to help. There are so, so many special needs centres, schools and work shops, these are full, there's years waiting list to get into them and this is not even taking into consideration the amount of elderly and those with health conditions.

I contacted Tesco this morning asking about how they are going to help the disabled, elderly and those with health issues, I was told that they can bring their bottles to the nearest shop that has signed up, but it doesn't answer how they get them there, so asking further i was told that their carers might assist then, I'd love to know where all these carers are because for one thing my sister gets 12 hours a week home assist, this is for general washing and feeding and medicating, they don't have the time to bring back everyone's bottles, I'm sure the home helps will be delighted at having to add in extra work that they're not paid for, I have to travel from Dublin to Meath to help her with other things, I have a disabled child, I'm carer to my child, I don't get any assistance, so I'm meant to pack my dd up on 2 buses one way to bring her out to my sister so I can collect her bottles and walk over to the nearest shop, I've barely enough time to do stuff here and arrange my own return of bottles or I wait until DH is off and he travels for work and his days off are usually catching up with appointments and our own stuff.

We're not alone, speaking to many people who are in similar situations to ours are saying the same.

@Wendysfriend exactly. It's a complete 'f*ck you' to people with mobility issues.

@Wendysfriend So your issue isn't really with the return scheme at all, is it? It's to do with the provision of public services for disabled people, which of course is very important and should be a public priority.