How are you finding the bottle return machines now that they've had time to bed in?

[BlackAmericanoNoSugar]

I've mostly found that it's an opportunity for Murphy's Law to have a good go at me. Anytime that I forget my bottles the machine is working fine, no queue, usually not even being used and if there are more than one machine then both of them are working. Anytime that I remember my bottles there will be one machine working and one out of order/full. The working machine will have a queue of at least three in front of me. Of the people in front of me at least one person will either a) have a small child going at snail's pace helping or b) have a unbelievably huge number of bottles (yesterday the person in front of me returned over €11 worth of bottles) or c) not have rinsed the bottles, or put the lids on so that there's sticky soda/juice residue everywhere when I get to it.

On the positive side I have refined my technique and sped up to the point that I am positively a blur as I post the bottles into the machine. I have even issued enough threats at home that my DC remember to both put the lid back on and check whether the bottle is returnable and put it into the appropriate place. I now almost always remember to use the money back thingy at the till.

I've only used it a couple of times and only had a couple of bottles/cans each time. Apparently it rejects 1 in 5 of the bottles/cans it should accept.

Still a pain in the hole 😂 (no car) but we were broke last week and we're glad of the money back!

I’m actually pretty happy with it. I got some of the recycling bins from Ikea to separate them out and it’s starting to become part of the routine to bag them up and bring them to the shop when running errands. I’ve also reduced the number of bottles/cans I’ve been buying so overall I think it’s working ok.

I just rinse them and put them in the boot of the car. Return them when I'm doing my shopping.

I'm actually finding it bizarrely enjoyable. There is something satisfying about the machine taking away all the bottles. I was at a show for DD at the weekend and it was sweltering so lots of water and drinks being drunk and I saw a lot of people taking their empty bottles back to the car rather than binning them or leaving them behind so I definitely think the charge is incentivising people to recycle

So shit when you don't drive though (whinge). It's hard to lug things about on the bus. Obvs that shouldn't necessarily be the standard for society in general but it irks the bejsysus outta me that the greens are pushing both sides of the coin iyswim. Where we are, there's loads of space for a recycling facility, but they haven't bothered to install one. So H has to drag the stuff quite a way to recycle it. And he has bad knees and a bad back.

I do mine at Aldi and it has worked perfectly so far. Delighted to see they had a bin right next to it to take any rejected ones as l did not want to drag them home again.

I keep forgetting to redeem the vouchers at the checkout and then as soon as I leave the shop I remember, the only way I seem to be able to remember to redeem them is if I hold them in my hand while I shop. They also don't transfer across different branches, so if you have one you have to use it in that specific branch.

I find it shameful that none of the machines seem to have been designed with accessibility in mind or even use by children or teenagers (or anyone short). When you think of the requirements a few years ago to make ATM's accessible and then theres no requirement that these new machines are wheelchair friendly, I helped a woman in a wheelchair use one and she said its just another example of how disabled people aren't even considered.

Its a bit of extra hassle for me but there is no way I'm letting a single one go unclaimed since I found out that any unclaimed money goes to the private company that runs it, how in this day and age did they not mandate that anything over standard running costs should go towards funding environmental projects rather than lining pockets

Is this in the UK please? I've never seen one of these machines. I take all my glass bottles and jars to traditional banks where I post them in and they smash to the bottom. Plastic bottles and empty drink cans go into the household recycling and the council collect once a fortnight. Is a 'bottle return machine' a regional thing?

That's just typical isn't it! Arseways design. And the shady financials. Why can we never do anything properly here!?!

It's in Ireland.

I love it!
The kids enjoy finding the special arrow on the bottles and it's a wee game for them.

Downside is having to store these in the hot press for now as no room in the kitchen for for more bins / recycling. But that's a work in progress...

The act of posting them into the machine is fun, but there is a technique. The bastarding fruit shoot bottles take about 5 times each before they are accepted. But then I feel as though I have won!!

I know it's not a flawless idea, but I do think it's a step in the right direction. Or does it just highlight how futile all our efforts are. No that's too bleak a thought for the morning.

They need far more recycling points though. Ours are so far away!

They have them in Lidl here in uk.

@DanielGault oh I get it. My parents don't drive nor do my sister my parents are lucky though as they have a Tesco express very close to them and my sister is basically town centre (as a non driver she wanted to be super close to everything) but I totally understand.
I think it's like lots of schemes when they get started just like when they got rid of free plastic bags. It feels a bit mental for a while but at some stage someone has to pull the trigger to get things started and these things always have teething problems and they always seem a bit awful at first

I know, it's just so typically half arsed it really gets my goat! I can't physically get to the recycling points so H has to drag everything up the road (approx 20 mins walk) when we have a shop practically in our front garden. We also have a large park 5 mins up the road, where he actually works. So plenty of space, if they actually wanted to make it accessible for people. But nope. It's just totally ill thought out and poorly implemented. With the inevitable result that people are pissed off with the scheme before it's even had a chance to get off the ground 😡

Nosy Brit here.
Do any litter pickers do this? Can you stick any suitable bottle in the machines? (Although I don't know if I'd want to rinse the insides of the bottles.)

You can. My H has taken bottles left behind at his football club. You don't have to rinse them. You did when we were using the green recycling bins at home. It's all wonderfully nonsensical as usual 😂

Never had an issue. (May have doomed myself now!!)

I can only speak to the overseas experience in Australia but YES, people do hunt down stray bottles (and will go through your recycling bin for them if outside your house). There is no such thing as a fly tipped bottle!

They also let charities/sporting organisations run collection points so if you want, you can donate your bottles in favour of Random Park Girl Guides instead of getting the coins back.

The bottles are labelled as being returnable for a deposit.

Bit of a pain. Not being able to crush the cans, so I have a bulky, light-weight shopping basket that I carry in from the car. Then 25% of the time the machines are out of order, so I have to trek back to the car and get a different shopping basket for the shopping.

THEN the machines are fussy - don't put your arm in too far, don't be too rough, put it in base first etc.

THEN I have to remember that I have the receipt when I get to pay, because they don't ask!

On the bright side, I'm much less interested in buying anything that requires them now.

I would like to be able to have it scan an app (or my lidl/dunnes/supervalue/tesco whatever card) and just put the money straight on there.. Surely that's not beyond them.

I shop in Tesco weekly and they've a few machines, so even if one machine is out of action, there's usually at least one other machine working. Then I use the voucher straight away when I do my shopping. I appreciate it's a pain if you're limited to one shop and one machine. There's the odd bottle or can it doesn't accept for some reason.

It's just a minor inconvenience having to remember to scoop them up in a bag and bring them with me. And if I forget, they all build up in my utility room until the next shopping trip. I wouldn't mind but it's mostly teen DD who buys the bottles and cans but it's me who ends up doing the physical work of disposing of them.

I'm probably a bit miffed because my waste charges went up recently. So I'm paying more for less recycling.

But I think in a few years time it will just be second nature to us, like the tax on plastic bags.

You're right, but it really rankles how little thought is put into disabled people when it comes to things like this.

Which supermarket is that @miri1985 ? I mostly go to Dunnes and I have redeemed the voucher in different branches from the one that I got it in because I was always forgetting to use it on the day. (I have three Dunnes equidistant from home, big Dunnes that has everything including new lines that they are testing, but takes an hour no matter how big or small the shop, little Dunnes that is tiny and quick but only has the basics, and medium Dunnes that has most things but is always missing one thing that I am craving and is medium quick.)