'15c or 25c does not appear enough to incentivise' people to use deposit return scheme

Conor Horgan, of Irish Business Against Litter, said that while the deposit return scheme’s impact on overall cleanliness levels was beyond dispute, hopes that the scheme would completely eradicate such litter are misplaced. Picture: Sam Boal / © RollingNews.ie

While there are fewer littered areas in the country than at any time in the past 25 years, plastic bottle and can litter remains an issue despite the introduction of the deposit return scheme.

That is according to Irish Business Against Litter, whose latest litter survey shows that, although such litter has decreased by more than half since the scheme was introduced in February 2024, plastic bottles were found in 19% of sites surveyed and cans in 22% — the highest levels since the scheme began.