Advertising watchdog investigates complaint about Re-turn marketing campaign

A spokesman for Re-turn said the company had not received any correspondence from the ASAI in relation to the advertising campaign.

The Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland (ASAI) is investigating a complaint alleging that a marketing campaign by Re-turn, the company that operates the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), was misleading.

The complaint claims that “Re-turn it Right” advertisements last Christmas implied that processing cans and bottles through the DRS instead of household waste collection resulted in recycling material of a superior quality.

This was disputed by the complainant, who claimed that containers disposed of in household bins were recycled to the very same standard as those processed through the DRS.

It is understood that the complainant is the owner of a specialised waste company, and a prominent figure in the waste management sector.

The ASAI confirmed that it had received at least one complaint in relation to the “Re-turn it Right” advertising campaign, and its investigations into the matter are ongoing.

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Last week, the Irish Waste Management Association (IWMA) issued a statement in response to comments made by Re-turn CEO Ciaran Foley, in which he claimed that containers processed through household waste were “downcycled”.

Mr Foley said recycling through the DRS was necessary to achieve “full circularity, bottle-to-bottle recycling”, adding that a lot of people didn’t realise this.

The IWMA said it was “disappointed” by his comments, and insisted that cans and bottles are “recycled in the same way” regardless of whether they are placed in a household bin or a DRS reverse vending machine.

“We want to reassure our customers and the general public that if they wish to save themselves a trip to their reverse vending machine, by placing plastic bottles or cans in their home recycling bin, they will be properly recycled,” the IWMA added.

A spokesman for Re-turn said the company had not received any correspondence from the ASAI in relation to the advertising campaign.

He reiterated the claim that mixed dry recycling does not deliver the same outcome for these materials as the DRS, which he said produces “a cleaner, higher-quality and lower-contamination material”.