


Date of implementation
DRSI CLG, trading as Re-turn, is a company limited by guarantee and was established by beverage producers and retailers in order to fulfil their obligations under the Separate Collection (Deposit Return Scheme) Regulations 2024.
The new Scheme brings together all parties involved in the manufacture, selling and consumption of beverages and has proved successful internationally in increasing collection rates.
On February 1, 2024, Ireland became the 16th European country to introduce the Deposit Return System (DRS) for single-use beverage packaging. Just over a year later, the 1 billionth packaging container was returned at Lidl Ireland Kilcarbery, Dublin, on Tuesday, February 4, 2025 — an impressive achievement for a country with a population of 5.3 million.
Following challenges with DRS implementation in Scotland, the smooth introduction and effective operation of the Irish system in its first year serve as a role model for other countries in the region, such as England and Wales, where DRS is expected to be implemented in the near future.
The Deposit Return Scheme is helping to build a cleaner Ireland by reducing cross-contamination, ensuring a higher quality of materials, and enabling repeated recycling. A plastic bottle can be recycled up to seven times, while aluminum cans can be recycled infinitely.
The DRS scheme in Ireland includes PET plastic bottles and aluminum cans ranging from 150ml to 3 liters. A deposit of 15 cents applies to containers between 150ml and 500ml, while a deposit of 25 cents applies to containers over 500ml up to 3 liters.
One of the cornerstones of the entire system is the IT solution provided by Sensoneo, a global technology company with a proven track record in DRS IT system implementations across eight countries. Sensoneo’s end-to-end, ready-to-integrate software for DRS gathers data from all sources and enables seamless integration between all stakeholders within the process chain. The software is built on a cloud-based infrastructure and is compatible with any reverse vending machine.
(as of April 8, 2025)
active collection points (Over 2,600 with Reverse Vending Machines and 600 with manual collection)
registered products
collected containers through RVMs
An interesting aspect of the Irish DRS is the ongoing expansion to new collection points to bring recycling closer to people. These include airports, hospitals, prisons, stadiums, public events, government offices, large companies, corporations, and community collection points. Since Return for Children launched in June, drinks containers have been donated to the initiative at public events, raising €90,000 to date. Return for Children was created to support six national children’s charities, Barnardos Ireland, Barretstown, Childline by ISPCC, Jack and Jill, LauraLynn Children’s Hospice, and Make-A-Wish Ireland. Collectively, these six charities support over 165,000 vulnerable and seriously ill children across Ireland.
Alan Pearson, Chief Information Officer at Re-turn
Martin Basila, CEO of Sensoneo, is proud to partner with Re-turn and contribute to a positive role model for other countries in the region: “The successful implementation and operation of DRS in Ireland, along with its positive reception by the public and consumers, demonstrate that a deposit system can work effectively and is the best way to achieve a high collection rate for single-use packaging. We are extremely proud that Sensoneo is contributing to a greener and cleaner Ireland as the IT system provider.”
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