Re-Turn, Ireland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) has received both praise and criticism during its short life. Since its inception over a year and a half ago, 1.6 billion bottles have gone through the system, however users remain agitated over unresolved issues.
The system is operated out of Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs) placed throughout the country. Buyers pay a refundable tax on their drink, which gets returned to them upon disposal in one of the RVMs. The growing DRS movement includes over 50 regions worldwide, with 17 countries in the EU, Ireland joined in February of 2024.
After over a year and a half of operation, consumers can see whether this strategy has worked for both them and the environment’s advantage, or if it is lacking.
Results have been varied; the IBAL, one year after implementation, reported 50% less plastic bottles and can litter, however a little change in litter decrease overall. By contrast, Ireland’s recycling rate has risen from forty-nine per cent to ninety-one per cent since the scheme’s implementation, with seventy-six per cent of that coming specifically from RVMs.
In 2024, Ossian Smyth, then Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, brought forward the idea for RVMs as a measure to reach the EU’s separate collection target for 2025. The initiative was anticipated to be a revolutionary recycling incentive by the Green Party, encouraging a circular economy and more streamlined service of bottle and can collection.
Yet, the Green Party lost all but one of twelve seats in the last General Election, despite the success of the Scheme. As early as May 2024, complaints about material being rejected from RVMs discouraged many users and, while this has subsided, still twenty-four per cent of eligible bottles and cans are not being returned in 2025, leading the public to miss out on over €66 million in returns. Further, in April 2024, as many as one in seven machines were not working, leading to many pointless trips on behalf of the consumer.
As many were just throwing bottles into regular or recycling bins, the more entrepreneurially-minded jumped at the opportunity to scavenge bins for bottles to return. Rather than try to understand the motives behind these people and facilitate more recycling, Dublin City Council reportedly spent around €25,000 to stop the rummaging with new bin designs.
It surfaced that Re-Turn only consulted with disability organisations in regards to RVM accessibility months after the machines were already widespread across the country. The elderly, the immunocompromised, and inhabitants of the Aran Islands are also unable to benefit from the scheme when they cannot leave their homes or travel to the mainland, a problem not faced during traditional waste collection.
Bin charges themselves have jumped overall as waste company services miss out on high-value materials found in cans and bottles that normally sustain the business, a fact that was disclosed to organisers as much as four years in advance.
Numerous cases have come out against the company as a result of their failure to address these issues, ranging from individual cases to the Irish Petrol Retailers Association (IPRA). IPRA claimed that the deposit return scheme obstructs competitive trade laws within the EU by requiring bottles and cans to have the Re-Turn logo on them, which foreign retailers would not be able to accommodate.
Despite losing the case, the association also claimed that small businesses were unfairly impacted by the scheme’s expensive requirements of buying machines and new stock. While Re-Turn has established grants for small businesses to help them get more involved in the scheme, they were also found to blame those establishments over accessibility issues rather than provide solutions for the claims being brought against themselves.
On September 18th, 2025, in a Dáil debate discussing issues within the scheme, the current Minister of State, Alan Dillon of Fine Gael, stated, “the DRS is a real and important element of circular economy measures and its early success reflects the strong collaboration between Government, producers, retailers and the community.”
So, for those who do make the trip to their nearest RVM, it stings of disrespect when they have to dodge bees and wasps vying for leftover residue in bottles, as was the case this past summer. Many believe that Re-Turn is more invested in profiting off of environmentalism through being intentionally vague in regards to uncollected deposits (of which they retain).
The Dáil themselves question the use of this national tax that ends up in a private organisation, however Mr Dillon did not provide an answer as to where this large sum was going or how much the CEO of Re-Turn was making.
Emily Laverty, secretary of the Environmental Society, points out this mountain of controversy as distracting from the real problem: “we should be buying less, recycling everything won’t solve the problem and the real thing should be trying to stop making so much waste.”
Re-Turn, in the midst of the frightening future ahead, has emerged as a greenwashing tool, “putting the emphasis of the problem onto consumers when it’s the company that’s [polluting]”, as Laverty highlighted. This is undeniable when considering facts such as that the vouchers dispensed by the machine are not recyclable; with over one billion drink containers having been returned, that is just as many vouchers that are unsalvageable.
The promise of Ireland’s deposit return scheme is unfortunately still waiting to be fulfilled. As more users advocate for the resolution of problems and the government is forced to take notice, adjustments need to be made to accommodate all sectors of this hopeful circular economy.
