“We’re in a great place. We’re delighted with where we’ve got to,” says Ciaran Foley, the head of Re-turn, the sometimes controversial Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) that was introduced in Ireland early in 2024.
He cuts a relaxed figure as he talks, certainly a lot more relaxed than he was at key moments last year when these pages and the Liveline switchboard were swamped by people giving out yards about the scheme he oversees.
Faulty machines, a lack of accessibility, a mountain of hassle, smelly, litter-strewn shop lobbies and a significant spike in the cost of plastic bottles and aluminium cans were among the key objections people had to the scheme with many convinced it was a scam, nothing more than a sinister tax by stealth.
The scheme – as you are no doubt aware - attached a deposit of between 15 and 25 cent to cans and plastic bottles and had the stated aim of getting Ireland to meet the EU-wide single-use plastics directive.
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That directive set a recycling target for such products of 77 per cent by the end of this year and then 90 per cent by 2029. When it launched on February 1st 2024, Ireland was recycling about 60 per cent of the plastics, in question.
So where are we now as the first deadline approaches.
“We’ve recycled over 1.8 billion containers, bottles and cans since we started,” Foley says. “We said initially we had the EU targets of 77 per cent this year and 90 per cent in 2029. So we’re actually running at about 77 per cent now and bang on target. If I’m honest, didn’t think we’d get there as quickly so I am thrilled with that, the numbers are phenomenal.”
There were 138 million receptacles recycled through Re-turn last month, making it the busiest month yet for the scheme.
[ Irish consumers missed out on €66.7m in uncashed bottle deposit returns last yearOpens in new window ]
Foley says there is still work to be done with 15 per cent of the receptacles Re-turn wants still going through the mixed dry recycling in people’s homes and just under one in 10 being more carelessly discarded.
So how can Re-turn convince those who are still putting their plastic bottles and aluminium cans into their green bins (or whatever colour the recycling is where you are) even after paying the deposit on them?
“First and foremost, it’s education,” Foley says. “These people probably know they’re losing their money and maybe that’s not that important to them. But they probably don’t know about the circular economy piece, the bottle-to-bottle piece.”
And what is that?
In essence the difference between plastics recycled through the scheme and recycled with other dry recyclables is purity.
For plastic bottles to be economically recycled into other plastic bottles, there needs to be a purity level of around 95 per cent, something which can only be attained if they are more efficiently separated from the get-go which is what the Re-turn scheme does.
The bottle-to-bottle plan will also be facilitated by another of Re-turn’s stated aims, the development of a fit-for-purpose recycling facility in Ireland.
We wake up every morning trying to figure out how do we make less money
— Ciaran Foley
As it stands, all the plastic that is collected here is shipped overseas where it is recycled but Re-turn is in the process of keeping it all close to home.
Currently, seven companies are bidding to build a new recycling plant with the plan to have it up and running by 2027.
“We talk about a circular economy but currently all of these containers go off island so they can be recycled. Our ambition and the whole idea of the deposit return scheme is that the producers pay to place their products on the market.
“The public consumes it. We collect it. We then sell the material back to the producers again, so they pay again. If we have the recycling plant on the island, then we recycle it all the way and nothing gets exported anymore and it’s the full circular economic cycle.”
He says the drinks sector is actively looking for R-pets - recycled plastic. “They’re scouring the world for that and they need it. We believe we’ll sell 100 per cent of material, we will sell whatever we can reproduce because there’s a huge demand for this.”
When it is fully functioning, the plant will generate up to €40m from such sales with the cash re-invested into the circular economy because, as Foley says over and over again – Re-turn does not want your money.
“The beauty of this scheme is that it operates on a polluter pays principle. It’s the producers who are paying for the scheme. Consumers don’t need to pay a cent if they just bring back the bottles. We don’t want that money. We don’t want to increase our profits. We are a not-for-profit company.”
Mind you, it is still making a lot of profit from consumers with its annual report published during the summer suggesting that it has hoovered up more than €65m in unclaimed deposits so far. Where is that money going? Or where has it gone?
Foley says the deposits are kept for just two months with a reserve of cash kept should there be a sudden surge in returns.
In the first year, it used the unclaimed money to build up a contingency fund and pay back loans as well as VAT and other taxes. “The 60 odd million that we had dwindled very quickly in 2025, but we will be building that up again,” he says.
He sighs when the level of online criticism is mentioned and admits he is frustrated by the social media commentary about the scheme.
People say it’s a tax but it is the only tax I know that if you want to go and get it back, you just get it back
— Ciaran Foley
“We wake up every morning trying to figure out how do we make less money. That is my goal, that’s my ambition and it is the ambition of everybody who works with us. We have 50 people working in Re-turn and they all focussed pretty much on redemption.
“And then we hear people saying: ‘Oh, you know, they’re making money, they’re profit-making, they’re making money for the Government, they’re making money for producers’. But ultimately, it’s a success story and even though some people are complaining, more people have got behind this. So we’re not getting too hung up on social media criticism. “
He is keen to talk up the positives, one of the key ones being the almost 4,000 schools, charities and community groups and GAA clubs who are actively collecting bottles and cans to raise money.
“If you don’t want the money from the bottles, someone does, so give them to your school, give them to your local GAA Club, give it to the kids. Give it to somebody because they’ll bring it back.”
The Return for Children campaign is one such initiative created to support six national children’s charities, Barnardos Ireland, Barretstown, Childline by ISPCC, Jack and Jill, LauraLynn Children’s Hospice, and Make-a-Wish Ireland and has already raised hundreds of thousands of euro.
Foley highlights a camogie club that is raising cash to build a pitch that has raised over €100,000 through bottle collections and he points to schools that have raised much smaller sums, but sums they need just the same.
He says that anecdotally many homeless or vulnerable people are collecting around €50 a day from discarded bottle and cans: “It is significant.”
Last year, Re-turn trialled bin surrounds which allow people to put their bottles and cans at the sides of bins to save others from rummaging through rubbish to get at them. “It definitely helps,” Foley says. “They don’t stay in the bins very long so we are rolling that out around the country now. It has helped people get off the streets and that has to be a positive thing ... It is helping people who need money and we want to make life easier for them.”
He also points to a dramatic reduction in litter on Irish beaches and on our streets. “Coastwatch have said they are seeing the cleanest beaches they have seen in 25 years.”
He accepts that there is an issue at events, big games and concerts and while there are bins where bottles are collected at Electric Picnic and other events, the punters do lose their deposits.
“I absolutely accept that in a lot of cases you do get charged of the deposit and we don’t have a way of getting the money back to people in those events, so we are saying if you donate it, it goes to these brilliant charities.”
The time it takes to put the bottles in the machines is also an issue Re-turn is working to address. “We’re rolling out these bulk machines [and] improving the infrastructure. We’ve got five bulk machines. Basically, you just throw your bag of containers in. It’s like a washing machine. It’s scanning all the bar codes as it goes. I think they’re going to become a very important part of the scheme.”
And does he have a message for the unconvinced?
“Research has told us there is a cohort who are time poor but cash rich. I think if they understood the importance of the recycling piece we would probably get more, even in donations from them,” he says.
“People say it’s a tax but it is the only tax I know that if you want to go and get it back, you just get it back. We’ve 3,500 collection points now.
“The machines are working well, there aren’t huge queues and it’s very convenient. We’re still growing. And people who don’t bring the bottles back will still ultimately be contributing to the circular economy with the money they leave behind.”
