Deposit Return Scheme Updates: Bottles Or Cans Purchased Before 1 February NOT Eligible and other news

News flash: Retailers selling in scope bottles and cans do not have to account for VAT on the deposit.  See Revenue statement:

Deposit Return Scheme (revenue.ie)

Bottles and cans purchased before 1 February will not be eligible for the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), the operator of the scheme, Re-turn, has advised.

From this Thursday, 1 February, all eligible drinks containers will have a small deposit added to them at payment, which can then be redeemed when the empty, undamaged containers are returned.

Drinks containers purchased before the scheme goes live on Thursday will not have the deposit applied to them at checkout, and so cannot be returned.

These containers should be recycled as normal.

What is not included in the scheme?
Not every drinks container is eligible for Deposit Return. Only drinks containers in PET plastic bottles, aluminium & steel cans from 150ml to 3 litres are included in the Scheme. All containers included in the Scheme will feature the Re-turn logo. Items that are not included in the deposit return scheme include:
• Any dairy drinks products in plastic containers or cartons e.g. milk, yogurt drinks
• Steel and tin cans that contain foodstuffs
• Containers for cleaning supplies

These items should continue to be disposed of in a recycling bin.

Glass drinks containers are also not included in the scheme and should be recycled as usual
and brought to a glass and bottle bank.

Why is Ireland launching a Deposit Return Scheme?

The Deposit Return Scheme is a practical circular economy initiative that aims to create a
closed-loop recycling system guaranteeing the material is returned and recycled. The EU has set Ireland a target to separate and collect 77% of plastic beverage bottles by 2025. This target will rise to 90% in 2029. We currently recycle between 60%-70% of drinks containers and Deposit Return is a proven method of increasing recycling rates, with great success in a number of other European countries.

Re-turn has created an FAQ page on the website for any questions which consumers may have, and they are strongly encouraged to reach out to info@re-turn.ie if they have any further queries.