Re-turn deposit return scheme helps reduce litter, according to IBAL and An Taisce

Since February, Irish shoppers have been paying a deposit of 15c or 25c on most plastic drinks bottles which they can recycle at Re-turn machines which issue a voucher to reclaim the value of the deposit. Picture: Andres Poveda

The introduction of the Government’s Deposit Return Scheme has led to an overall improvement in the level of litter on Irish streets.

The first national litter survey, undertaken by An Taisce on behalf of Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) since the introduction of the scheme, has seen a rise in towns reaching the upper tier of cleanliness.

There was a rise in the total number of sites deemed clean across the country with a significant fall in those judged to be “heavily littered”.

The Re-Turn plastic bottle return machines have become a familiar sight in large stores and shopping centres all over Ireland. Picture: Denis Minihane

Can and bottle litter, in particular, saw a big fall.

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Mallow, Killarney, Waterford City, and Ennis were among 14 areas that were marked cleaner than European norms.

On the flip side, Dublin city centre failed to improve and is still “littered”, this being the fourth successive IBAL survey that has seen a decrease in cleanliness.

Naas regained the top position it lost last year to Maynooth, ahead of Monaghan and new entrant Blanchardstown. Ballybane in Galway slipped to the bottom of the rankings, followed by Dublin city centre, north inner city, and Ballymun, which failed to maintain its improvement of last year.

Some blackspots noted 

Among the blackspots encountered by An Taisce inspectors was an area in Lamb Alley in Dublin which featured “vast quantities of alcohol cans, broken windows, and all manner of food litter”; Balbutcher Lane in Ballymun, where dumped items included street cones, car parts, and carpets; and Fairfield Meadows on Cork’s northside, which was “subject to monumental levels of dumping”.

Conor Horgan of IBAL said: 

Once again, no town was judged to be either a ‘litter blackspot’ or ‘heavily littered’ — that’s real progress, progress that has been hard-earned in our cities. 

Many city areas fared well compared to last year, with notable improvements in Limerick City, Mahon in Cork, Tallaght, and north inner city Dublin.

Limerick south (Galvone) recorded its best ever result.

When broken down further, there was a near-30% fall in the prevalence of can-related litter since the previous survey.

While plastic bottles were also less common than in any past survey, they remain the third most prevalent form of litter on our streets. 

Mr Horgan said: "It’s early days and we’re still seeing too many plastic bottles on our streets, but we can expect further improvement as people become accustomed to the deposit return scheme and the legacy non-returnable items are flushed out of the system." 

These initial results indicate that if there’s a monetary incentive to do the right thing, people will respond. The same logic applies to a coffee cup levy. 

Coffee cups, while down, were present in one of every five sites surveyed.

Unlike in some countries, the deposit return scheme does not include beer bottles, which were found in 10% of sites. IBAL is questioning whether there is a good reason why these bottles could not be made returnable.

“It is disappointing that we see no progress in the development of degradable chewing gum,” Mr Horgan said. “The products lie on our streets for decades and decades.”

Cigarette butt litter remains high, present in 31% of the 500-plus sites surveyed.