Tóibín: “Re-turn bosses must come before an Oireachtas Committee – it’s time to reform or end this beset scheme.”
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín has requested bosses of Ireland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) to come before the Oireachtas Committee on Climate and the Environment and Energy.
Tóibín has invited Re-turn to Leinster House to answer questions about its environmental cost-benefits; its €500,000 clean-up costs, its financial transparency, and to explain why it is not moving towards modern alternatives such as a digital DRS, a more inclusive model.
The Meath TD said: “The news this week that the Re-turn scheme is costing Dublin City Council half a million a year to tackle is the latest in a long line of revelations about the shambolic scheme. It has problems from everything from health and safety concerns to retailers’ woes to members of the public frustrated with filthy and finicky reverse vending machines.
“It has created another mess: bin scavenging. In the name of cleaning up the country, the government has incentivised the dumping of bins onto the streets. The government needs to reform or end this shambolic scheme.”
“This is a company that retained €100million of customers’ unredeemed deposits in 2024. It’s a tax in all but name, but it’s not going back into the public purse. It goes back to a private company, and we don’t know the salary of the CEO.
“It involves a national effort, fleets of trucks on the roads, machines in every shop, and at the end of it all, most of the bottles and cans have to be shipped out of Ireland for recycling as we have no facility here. It needs to be reviewed.
“I have invited Re-turn to come before the Oireachtas Committee to answer questions about how it’s run, and if it’s working, overall.”
