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MAYBE I’M SHOWING my age, but as a kid I remember collecting old Cidona bottles from the hedgerows around where I lived, and receiving five pence from the local shop for each one that I returned. It kept me in sweets money and helped keep the city and countryside clean.
These days however we are saturated with rubbish from a throw-away culture of plastic packaging every time we go to the local shop or supermarket. This isn’t good for the planet, and it contributes to the increase in illegally dumped waste on our streets.
While levels of recycling have increased in recent years, there are big issues over contamination and confusion around what we can recycle.
Chinese ban
Up until now, much of what we recycled was sent abroad for recycling to countries such as China. Back in July of last year China told the World Trade Organisation that it will effectively ban imports of 24 categories of recyclables and solid waste starting this January.
Until recently China allowed a level of 1.5% contamination of recyclable waste. They’ve now reduced this figure to 0.5% and this means that a lot of Ireland’s recyclable materials won’t make the grade from this January.
Something needs to be done, as China no longer wants to be the world’s dustbin.
Decisive action
Countries such as Germany have a deposit on drinks containers, and have machines in supermarkets that allow you to bring back empty cans and bottles to get your money back. We need a deposit on drinks containers here.
We should require reverse vending machines in our supermarkets with a 25c deposit on beverage containers. It keeps the streets clean, and reduces the contamination that can occur when we place our recyclables into a mixed green bin.
Just over fifteen years ago Lowe Alpine employed hundreds of workers making clothing from recycled ‘PET’ plastic bottles, yet these jobs were lost when we started sending our recycling offshore. We could bring back jobs like these if Minister Naughten introduces the right regulations to create employment here at home.
Germany’s lead
Ireland needs to follow the lead taken by Germany and other Nordic countries. We need to exercise leadership in preventing a ‘China Crisis’ in the waste industry.
We are burning, dumping and exporting far too much of our waste. Much of our recycled waste has been exported in the past but as the door to China closes we have an opportunity to create more jobs and profits at home in reusing and recycling waste. China has taken away the easy option, and we have to up our game.
The government must rethink how we deal with waste. There is a real danger that the China ban will lead to more incineration and dumping instead of re-use and recycling. To prevent this there are several initiatives where Ireland could take the lead.
We could incentivise jobs in recycling by providing scholarships for the design of products for the circular economy. We also need to move more quickly to phase out toxic plastics such as microbeads that damage marine life. We should revise the regulatory approval under which Repak operates to ensure Ireland reaches the proposed EU target to recycle 75% of waste packaging by 2030.
Make better use of energy
We could also introduce an incineration levy similar to the landfill levy so that valuable recyclables do not go up in smoke in the Ringsend and Duleek incinerators. For the waste that is being sent for incineration, we need to make better use of the energy that is created, and provide district heating so that nearby communities can use this energy to heat their homes.
This requires new legislation from Minister Naughten to make this a reality, but it has not yet happened.
Now is the time for action, instead of waiting for the crisis to unfold. Already recyclable material is being stockpiled in the UK. These changes were flagged by China six months ago and yet we are still waiting for Minister Naughten to respond.
The same will happen here unless we take decisive steps. If he fails to act, the consumer will have to pick up the tab and pay more for burning and sorting through our rubbish.
A circular economy saves money
As the Environmental Protection Agency has stated we are wasting a significant amount of valuable material that could be reused. The promotion of a circular economy saves money and reduces pressure on the environment.
Rahm Emanuel once said a crisis represents: “an opportunity an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before”. In the Irish context our recycling crisis allows us to something that we did well in the past, and can do so again with the right incentives.
Our grandparents knew how to reduce, reuse and recycle their waste. We need to learn from what they did well in the past.
Irish consumers want to see what we discard creating jobs here at home, but this requires changes from the top.
Ciarán Cuffe is a Green Party City Councillor who sits on Dublin City Council’s Environmental Strategic Policy Committee and lectures in Environment and Planning at the Dublin Institute of Technology.
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Retailers should be taxed on excessive packaging. Try to buy a piece of fruit from tesco, you need a Swiss Army knife.
We too used to scour our village hedges for glass bottles and get ‘sweet money’ from bringing them to the local shops and pubs. Great treasure-hunting fun!
I’d suggesting going a bit further though….why can’t we return ALL packaging to the shops we got what was in them from? (including huge cardboard boxes and styrofoam etc.). I’d bet packaging practices would change soon afterwards….
@Kieran Magennis:
You can return all packaging on Wii goods to the shop and most products that are packed in styrofoam are wii.
@Nick Allen: Thanks for that Nick. Afraid I had to use google to find out what Wii means! So that scheme is in place for that video game console? Fair play to them and hope others follow suit!
@Kieran Magennis:
Yes it is in place for games consoles. Any electrical product can be returned. PowerCity have a big big at the front of the stores (which I have been in), u can just drop in and dump stuff there and they don’t check if u have purchased from them
@Kieran Magennis: Obviously Wii should be WEEE, bloody autocorrect
@Nick Allen: Ah, get you now. Yeah I knew about that scheme, but will they take the packaging back straight back after you buy it? The last fridge we got had virtually bomb-proof packaging including thick cardboard, styrofoam, bubble wrap etc. and the delivery man refused to take it back with him and said we couldn’t bring it to the shop either. Filled both the green and black bins on its own! (can’t put styrofoam in our green bin as far as i know)
@Kieran Magennis: If you bought or rented a TV in the 1970s they unpacked it and tested it in their place and wrapped it in a blanket-like protective cover during delivery, and just left you with the TV. Nowadays all the hassle seems to end up with the customer…
On this issue I find myself agreeing entirely with Councillor Cuffe. Perhaps as well as returning cans, each major supermarket chain should be obliged to provide bins for customers to discard unwanted plastic packaging. Recently I decided to try organic bananas, to my amazement they were wrapped in a plastic bag with a plastic tie sealing it!
@John Campbell: Some supermarkets in Norway where i work have recycle machines for plastic bottles and cans, you get a few bob back on a receipt, or can donate the few kroner to red cross. I see a lot of kids gathering bottles and cans and getting the money for sweets or the cinema. Doesn’t take a lot of brain power to buy and install these machines, maybe one of the waste collectors could do this. When I shop here I take the product out of the box or packet and leave it behind me in the store, nobody has ever stopped me, and if they do then I will just tell them I pay fro the “cornflakes” not the box.
@John Campbell: Organic bananas wrapped in plastic ……. was the plastic organic and were you intending on eating it? ……!
Don’t talk rubbish about recycling. Yesterday I met South Dublin County Council staff taking hundreds of bottles to landfill as bottle banks were not being emptied after Christmas and New Year. Shame on SDCC and on Rehab for not being prepared for the extra demand. And they want to fine house-holders for not segregating waste.
@Duke Auburn: I still have all mine under the stairs as it’s pointless even trying to get near a bottle bank the last week
@Duke Auburn: Every year the bottle banks are full to the brim from mid December onwards with no capacity to cater for the Christmas bottles.
Our politicians are to busy collecting their expenses to be bothered with recycling
@Martin Sinnott:
Stupid anti government Comment when you obviously can’t think of anything else to contribute
@Nick Allfew
There is an element of truth to that statement.
The waste issue is out of control in this country and the government his no will to tackle it in any meaningful way.
Less bins on our streets than a few years ago.
No recycling bins on our streets.
No deposit/return schemes.
No litter wardens.
No pressure on manufacturers or retailers to cut plastic waste.
I would consider myself to have a small Carbon footprint since I recycle/don’t drive and am careful with water etc.,
However, why should I have to do all the work? A packet of small Glenisk Yoghurts [4 tiny pots] have hard cardboard packaging [totally unnecessary except to advertise the product on the shelf] but since it’s a favourite of mine, I always buy it…. It’s the same with fruit. Plastic packaging/boxes when you buy Blueberries/Raspberries and try and buy Irish as I do.
@Rosemarie Martin: The countryside is full of blueberries/raspberries, so why to buy them in that packaging?
What a waste sending our recyclables to China, should be able to leave the packaging in the shop. Was able to do it in Germany 30 years ago.
No brainer, well done Green Party Dublin Cllr Ciaran Cuffe, on your post! In my former native country Holland the right wing-center govt wanted to scrap ”statiegeld” the deposit scheme for large plastic bottles, but after mass protest including from environmental groups this was revoked. But there is still No deposit scheme for small plastic bottles though, such as sports bottles and the sorts, nor cans. More than half of these bottles end up in the residual waste, which unnecessarily burdens the environment! The deposit on large plastic bottles in Holland provides more than 95% collection of these bottles; Brilliant! By introducing a deposit system we reduce litter, as well as animal suffering, and save on clean-up costs! Source: https://milieudefensie.nl/nieuws/algemeen/een-echte-held-kiest-statiegeld (Use Google Translate).
@Gerben Uunk: small plastic bottles go in plastic recycling bin, cans & tins go in PMD.
Hilarious that ad on radio “yes it does make sense to recycle ” “no we shouldn’t pay for the waste we DONT GENERATE ”
Back to the shop and their suppliers. Cut down take home waste so it doesn’t need to go in landfills or to China .
A big percentage of the packaging is not needed nor wanted .
Paying people for their glass bottles etc works in Germany because its not a robbin’ kip. In Berlin, I saw queues of elderly ladies in shopping centres putting their glass into the vending machines and receiving on average €20 for a shopping trolley load, (i.e. €20 cash or €20 voucher for spending in that shop). Imagine all those €20′s being lost to the recycling companies here, and to the greedy politicians who have a finger in their profits? Rubbish!!
@Paul Culligan:
It’s a deposit. The old ladies in Germany paid the 20€ when they bought the bottles and are just getting their deposit back.
@Nick Allen: ach chomh maith le sin, tá na deochanna an saor sa Ghearmáin. Níl dhá lítear buidéal uisce ach tríocha cent leis an deposit. Ach in Éirinn, bheadh sé níos mó ná €1.50! Scannalach
But also, drinks in Germany are much cheaper. A 2 litre bottle of water is about 30 Cent WITH the deposit. It’d cost more than €1.50 here. It’s disgraceful!
@TheJournalAsGaeilge:
Slight exaggeration. Water available at a third the price.
It would be a better country if civic responsibility (recycling, water conservation etc.) were taught more in schools instead of nationalism in the guise of forced Irish language and biased history.
@Sam Alexander: Pffffffffffffhahahahahahaha dúramán
What a clown. *Facepalms*
@Sam Alexander: má go mbeadh níos mó náisiúnaigh sa tír seo, má go mbeadh bród ar na daoine faoin ár dtír, bhféidir go mbeadh níos lú bruscair timpeall na tíre.
Maybe if more people were nationalistic and proud of their country, they’d think again before dumping litter all over the place!!!
@TheJournalAsGaeilge:
Those that claim to be nationalistic or republicans do not display much sense of civic responsibility. To quote an extortionist (collector) for the hunger strikers when a few of us were cleaning our estate – “If I were you I would not be doing that. That’s the councils job” – in a nauseating Northern accent.
I think instead of the bin companies hiking up there prices and charging to lift your recycling bin we should be encouraged to recycle more but in saying that I’ve often walked past neighbours waste bins overflowing to see lots of recyclable item in the bin.
I’ve worked in a recycling plant where we recycled cardboard and glass and plastic bottles the cardboard was shipped to Germany the plastic China and the crushed glass to the UK to be used in roads
Look at the cost to the environment in energy used to process the items and to ship them and the knock on effect to the environment.
The company I worked for ceased to trade it became harder to ship the recycled products it also became costly as the glass was returned due to contamination I.e rubbish in bottles or caps or needles.
How come McDonalds don’t allow segregation of waste in store into cardboard, plastic and food? They do this in other countries such as France.
@Sean: I was in one for a coffee the other day and they had three bins for different items. Maybe it’s a pilot scheme?
Ciaran Guff ,more like
@Tedser: Its David vs Goliath, dear Tedser one has to start somewhere, go read up how succesfull deposit schemes is in the Nordic countries as Ciaran states.
@Gerben Uunk: go tell some else what to do
Its a great idea and has been shown to work in germany . Im living in germany for the last few years and you pay on average 15 to 20 cent extra depending on the container (glass or plastic) . After a week or two bring the bottles back and I have enough for a decent dinner for the wife and myself … happy days
Although I would never vote green the man has a point. Ireland was leading the way with the smoking ban so surely you a capable of a deposit system. And yes…. Ireland is great but sometimes very filthy. Greetings from Germany
I was really surprised at how narrow the list of items that are accepted in recycling bins here actually is.
http://recyclinglistireland.ie/
The big one missing from it is soft plastics, meaning that all sorts of wrappers and bags are not accepted, yet I would suspect most people probably diligently put them into their green bins thinking they’re accepted.
Also coffee and drinks cups can’t be recycled at all.
The official list also says not to put in things like pizza delivery boxes as they’re food contaminated.
It’s a Model that works in every country that uses it. Absolutely no reason why it won’t work in Ireland.
If you’re on jobseekers allowance for over a month, you should be doing a minimum 10hours a week of picking up rubbish in the local area or helping in a recycling centre . It would encourage people to get off jobseekers & would help with the waste issue in Ireland.
It’s more a case it needs to be, how long do u think we have before our beaches are plastic dumbs like a lot of countries in the East?
Retailers should be forced to take back all packaging. Less plastic would be a major improvement. You would soon see a reduction in packaging.
Repak has been the most anti packaging reduction organisation in the country as it allows retailers to force packaging disposal cost onto the customer. Repak are a con make the supermarket’s take back waste.
If more people start buying lose fruits and veg at supermarkets they might start providing a paper bag option. Unfortunately the cheaper and sometimes only option is plastic. Very few places stock milk in 2 litre cartoons and 2 x 1 litres cartons are nearly double the price of a 2liter of milk in a plastic bottle. 6 x plastic bottles of sparkling water the same price as 3 x glass bottles. The government were the pioneers in the plastic bag levy many years ago and they need to start increasingly levies on all plastic. If the other option is cheaper or similar people will change habits. Watch a plastic ocean on Netflix and I guarantee people will start changing habits.
@Colm Castill.
The frustrating part is that loose veg are more expensive.
Peppers in M&S where I shop ate 3 for about 1.70, the same peppers from the same supplier and same country of origin sold loose ate about 90 cent each.
We’ve taken to asking the till attendant to dispose of the plastic in the bin underneath the till, it’s never a problem and they are happy to do so….were there an issue I’d leave the groceries on the belt and walk out.
Martin Sinnott ~ Well said !
https://my.uplift.ie/petitions/introduce-a-deposit-refund-system-for-drinks-containers-now Please please sign this petition if you agree with Ciaran. It’s nuts we haven’t yet implemented this when it’s been in half of Europe for years.
Why does it need a deposit? Why not 25c payout on a return of cans?
@Mr D: I would imagine it’s to encourage people to recycle their cans. Or if they can’t be bothered themselves there will be people will to do so for the financial incentive.
@Mr D: it’s basically the same thing, if you’re going to get 25c back the manufacturer/retailer will put 25c onto the cost of the item somewhere along the line. The best thing is to make the containers re-fillable, that’s cost effective for both seller and customer.
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