Record number of plastic bottles returned
Re-turn, operators of Ireland’s Deposit Return Scheme, has announced another milestone achievement as over 400 million plastic bottles and cans have been returned since the Scheme launched on February 1, 2024. The 400 millionth drinks con-tainer was returned on Thursday, August 15.
ThIs announcement demonstrates that public sup-port for the Scheme has been growing considerably. The highest number of drinks containers returned in a single day was on Monday, August 12, with over 3.97 million plastic bottles and cans brought back by people in Ireland.
During the summer, overall, weekends were the most popular time for returns, and this was also the case on August 10 and 11, with over 7.7 million plas-tic bottles and cans being returned over the two-day weekend.
Progress made since launch
Since the launch of the Scheme, the following num-ber of drinks containers have been returned each month:
•2 m containers in February
•20 m containers in March
•51 m containers in April
•78 m containers in May
•90 m containers in June
•102 m containers in July
•54 m containers in August to date
CEO of Re-turn, Ciaran Foley, said: “It is great to see the public’s support for the Scheme and the volume of drinks containers returned in the first six months rise steadily. It has been an exciting summer, particu-larly with the launch of the ‘Return for Children’ ini-tiative in support of six national children’s charities. By working with high-profile events like Electric Pic-nic, we are providing attendees an easy way to re-turn their drinks containers, with the option of do-nating their deposits to a very worthy cause. Overall, recent research has found that we are also seeing a noticeable reduction in litter on the streets of Ireland as an immediate positive benefit of the Scheme and we are excited to see it grow going forward.”
Return for Children
In June, ‘Return for Children’ was launched. ‘Return for Children’ directly supports six national children’s charities, Barnardos Ireland, Barretstown, Childline by ISPCC, Jack and Jill, LauraLynn Children’s Hospice, and Make-A-Wish Ireland.
This weekend, festival=goers at Electric Picnic will have the option to donate their plastic bottles and cans to the initiative, helping to keep the event litter free while benefitting the six children’s charities.
Re-turn is encouraging event organisers to get in touch at info@re-turn.ie to find out how they can set up ‘Return for Children’ collections at their events.