My kids are keen to cash in on recycling plastic bottle scheme

ON my windowsill rests one lonely smoothie bottle with a Re-turn logo, washed and unreturned, cluttering my kitchen.

I am not exactly over-enthused about this new scheme since I already recycle, but I see its potential to improve recycling metrics.

My children, on the other hand, are overjoyed! They both see this new scheme as an opportunity to make money for substantial Robux investments (computer game virtual currency).

A campaign is underway for me to buy more logo-bearing packaging so they benefit financially from this scheme (at my expense, of course).

We are more than 10 weeks (almost three months) into this new Deposit Return Scheme, the supposed panacea to resolve Ireland’s recycling metrics woes.

Despite a general perception of being green here in Ireland, we actually top the EU leaderboard for the wrong reasons, continuing to produce the highest plastic packaging waste per head, together with having one of the lowest recycling rates, often burning this problem waste instead, incinerating much of Ireland’s plastic.

The introduction of the new Deposit Return Scheme in February is designed to improve the national recycling rate of plastic bottles and aluminium cans, which currently stands at a mere 60% of drinks containers.

Thanks to the EU’s insistence, the push to increase these figures is set, with targets to separate and collect 77% of plastic beverage bottles by 2025, rising to 90% in 2029, in line with the European Union’s single-use plastics directive.

That’s a mammoth task in tackling behavioural change, and one that the new Deposit Return Scheme seeks to address.

While I applaud the efforts to increase the recycling of aluminum, a material with infinite recycling potential, I see the plastic side of this as a transitionary band-aid before truly tackling the plastic issue by either a phase-out or a sustainable reinvention through innovation.

Single-use plastic as it is cannot continue. And the sooner we make the system-level changes necessary, the better.

Plastic is everywhere and going nowhere, only getting smaller over time and entering into places you’d least expect. Like your diet, at a rate of about five grams a week.

It’s scattered like confetti across our land and seascape, forming islands that no-one wants to lay claim to in our oceans.

Recycling it and the perception of it being recycled seems like farcical greenwashing when you see how little is or can be recycled, and how one or two goes in the recycling merry-go-wheel is as much as plastic can take. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make every effort to recycle plastic; rather we should avoid its consumption to begin with.

While the deposit fees for this scheme are equal for both plastic and aluminum, it feels like a missed opportunity to nudge choices in the right direction - aluminum cans, as infinitely recyclable materials, are an environmentalist’s preference (given two choices and not a third of a reusable container) and they could have skewed financial rewards in their favour, with a greater returning fee for this material choice.

This system is a timely opportunity for Irish consumers to rethink their purchasing decisions. The latest research reinforces long-held expert advice to drink tap water from glass or stainless steel containers to reduce exposure to nanoplastics in bottled water, as plastic bottled water can contain 10 to 100 times more bits of plastic than previously estimated.

Not only is this the better choice, but it is also an economic one.

Considering that a 500ml bottle of branded water daily can set you back €280 a year, it’s the equivalent of a weekend break away. Which would you prefer? A high plastic diet or a mini-break?

As we shift gears into the soft drinks category, it’s also an opportunity to switch to aluminum options or consider reducing consumption overall. Taking a moderate approach to its consumption has a lot to commend it, as some of the health problems associated with soft drinks include obesity, dental/bone problems, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and kidney stone formation.

Alternatives that may help reduce soft drink intake include soda-steamed carbonated water with citrus fruit slices or fresh mint and cucumber.

Even smoothies, innocent though they may seem, are not the ideal way to consume fruit or vegetables. However much you drink, smoothies don’t count as more than one of your 5-a-day. Eating whole fruit and veg is the way to go, though, as a parent grappling with getting a minimum of 5 a day into my kids, smoothies are a keeper in our house.

Homemade is best of all and easy enough to prepare with fruit juice, yoghurt, and fruit.

The chunky Deposit Return Scheme machines that now occupy stores have been the source of much debate and humour, but for the system to encourage recycling, it must be easy and convenient, with as few barriers as possible.

For those with specific physical disabilities, it is inaccessible, a serious oversight of the design. If we want everyone to recycle, we must create systems that enable everyone to do so, without having to ask for help.

Autonomy is key for independence, yet here we are in 2024 with people who use wheelchairs or may have mobility issues reporting difficulties accessing and using machines.

The return chute is too high for wheelchair s. Surely, if we are to encourage the seismic sustainability changes required at a societal level, everyone should be able to reach this chute?

What has been left out of all this is a missing piece from the recycling puzzle in the Irish landscape: the provision of segregated bins in public areas, particularly high-traffic areas where tourists and coffee/food trucks converge. Segmented bins make making the right choice easy and convenient for people. This has the potential to form part of the solution to the litter and recycling challenges this country faces, and it has been done to great effect in places like Fota Wildlife Park.

If this new scheme creates the positive reinforcement needed to encourage everyone to recycle (especially more sustainable packaging options like aluminum) through a slot machine where you always win, a gamification of sorts, it will be worth it. For now, I will continue to build up this new form of currency on my windowsill.