Shoppers talk about their experiences with the Deposit Return Scheme machines
The amount of time that Deposit Return Scheme machines are out of order is “not good enough”, the minister responsible for the recycling initiative has said.
Scheme operators, Re-turn, say the reverse vending machines for beverage bottles and cans are available 86pc of the time. Minister Ossian Smyth said, however, they must reach 95pc to avoid public frustration and to get back enough bottles and cans to hit recycling targets.
“The high-reliability machines are running at 90pc availability but that’s not good enough either,” he said.
Many of those say out-of-order machines and rejected containers are leading them to simply dump the recyclable bottles and cans, going against the whole point of the scheme.
Shoppers in Dublin spoke to the Irish Independent on their experiences with the Deposit Return Scheme machines.