Corner shops fight back against recycling scheme that is 'crippling' them as they lose money due to costs of providing service - while Re-Turn firm held over 60million euro in unclaimed deposits in one year alone

Published: 23:11, 7 July 2026 | Updated: 23:11, 7 July 2026 More than a quarter of retailers who signed up to the controversial Deposit Return Scheme are losing money by operating it, the Oireachtas will hear today. The recycling programme – introduced under the Green Party in 2024 – added around 15cent to the cost of a can or plastic bottle, which can be reclaimed when they are returned to machines in shops and supermarkets. Irish people left €66.7million in unredeemed deposits on the table in 2024 through the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), though as a ‘not-for-profit’, Re-Turn says this money is reinvested into the scheme. Despite the cash pile, earlier this year Re-Turn rejected a request from smaller retailers to increase the 2.2cent they receive per can or bottle for operating the machines. The head of the nation’s newsagents’ association says the scheme is ‘crippling’ small businesses who are not recovering the costs of administering it. Sara Orme, President of the Convenience Store and Newsagents’ Association (CSNA), representing around 1,000 retailers, will appear before the Oireachtas Climate Committee today, where she will say: ‘The scheme appears to be incapable of allowing our sector of approximately 1,000 retailers to recover their costs.’ Roughly 3,800 retailers have signed up to the scheme, and around 1,000 of them are smaller newsagents and corner shops. ‘The scheme is supposed to be cost neutral for retailers, though obviously none of those working in Re-Turn or in the logistic companies that transport containers from our stores work without compensation, nor should they. ‘None of the companies and suppliers we engage to supply and maintain machines provide their services without charge. ‘Retailers provide space on their property for the scheme to work, ensure the machines are in clean and working order, deal with unwanted litter, wait for weeks to be compensated... and receive 2.2cent per container.’ She said, just two years in, ‘it’s very obvious to the majority of our members that have a reverse vending machine (RVM) that fees and grants paid by Re-Turn don’t come anywhere near covering real costs. This is known to Re-Turn, yet a recently concluded review still sets handling fee at 2.2cent per container, a figure that will never provide recompense for our costs’. She contrasts this with a similar scheme in the UK and Northern Ireland, which operates a two-tier model depending on retailer size, which she says ‘adequately and responsibly compensates small and medium retail outlets’. Speaking to the Irish Daily Mail, Ms Orme criticised the 2.2cent shops get for each can and bottle filtered through the machines. Earlier this year, Re-Turn opted against increasing the handling fee after commissioning an independent review by a consultancy firm, the findings of which were validated by EY. It concluded the 2.2cent per return would remain unchanged. However, a targeted support of €2,000 per site would be introduced for retailers handling between 250,000 and 500,000 containers per year. But Ms Orme said the structure does not help smaller shops processing fewer than 250,000 containers a year enough and more needs to be done to cut down on time it takes staff to clean and maintain the machines. Shop owners also face a yearly maintenance fee of up to €1,000 per machine. Ms Orme said extra costs, including for electricity, are making the scheme unsustainable for small businesses. ‘We bought machines and, in many instances, spent substantial additional monies for external shelters, civil works, CCTV, Wi-Fi, electrical work and also had to reconfigure shelving and traffic flows to accommodate this new entity, that had at its core, a “cost neutral” calculation,’ she said. ‘It is in the matter of allocation of ongoing running costs that provide the greatest challenge to the “cost neutral” model. ‘We’re also very aware that service and maintenance contracts have the ability to cost a retailer with a small to medium sized machine an average of €750 for each of the seven to nine years life it is expected to have.’ Increasing money per container from 2.2cent to 3.0cent would make a huge difference to smaller shops, she added. A Re-Turn spokesperson said the independent review, ‘found the structure fairly supports cost recovery for retailers, while identifying a specific cohort requiring additional support’. They added: ‘Re-turn is introducing €2,000 in targeted support per site for retailers processing 250,000 to 500,000 containers a year, subject to relevant criteria. ‘A Review Mechanism is also being established for retailers who believe the proposal does not adequately reflect their individual circumstances. ’ Spar shop owner rages against the machines    Gus O’Hara owns a small Spar shop in Clontarf, north Dublin, and he says the Re-Turn machines have become a burden for himself and his staff, who need to take time out to maintain, clean and empty them. For Mr O’Hara, it’s not a case of making money from the machines; it’s about breaking even, something he said is ‘nigh on impossible’ for smaller shop owners. He said: ‘This machine gets full five times a day. That means somebody has to leave my shop five times a day, which means I have to have a minimum of three staff on to make sure there’s two in the shop at all times. My insurance company would expect that. ‘The staff have to go out that often, and the idea that it might be a minute or two minutes is nincompoop, because the machine has to be opened, and has to be emptied. ‘We have to clean around the area, then put it back in and close it up again. That’s five times a day, and it’s eight to ten minutes, five times a day, and it’s constant, and it’s seven days a week. So it’s always calling on us.’ Gus O'Hara, who owns a small Spar shop in Clontarf, Co. Dublin, says the scheme is a burden He added: ‘I love having a Re-Turn machine to help my customers... but what I don’t love is the amount of work it’s taking that has not been compensated. If someone has a machine, it’s €30,000 all in. It’s €15,000 for the machine and the balance is for the housing. They have to be replaced every five years. ‘So, imagine you’re a business and you take out a loan to pay this, then that’s five years of interest on a machine that’s already costing you money to have it.’ Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.