The minister responsible for the Government’s Deposit Return Scheme has admitted that it’s experiencing some “teething issues”, and is considering a number of changes to the way it works.

It comes after the Irish Mirror revealed last week that one in every five bottles and cans brought back to stores was being rejected by Re-turn’s reverse vending machines.

In the Dáil this week, Minister of State Ossian Smyth accepted that there were “teething issues” with the scheme, and outlined a number of changes that were currently under consideration.

These include the provision of larger machines at civic amenity sites, which would be capable of accepting and sorting up to 100 cans at a time, rather than having to insert them one-by-one as currently required.

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Five local authorities have already approached the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications with a view to installing the machines, which are “shaped like washing machines”, according to Mr Smyth.

He said Re-turn would also be asked to provide information through a mobile phone app, showing the location of reverse vending machines that are out of order.

This follows concerns over the number of machines that are unavailable due to faults, and the minister told the Dáil that there was currently a “reliability rate” of 86 percent.

Records obtained by the Irish Mirror show that the minister’s assistant contacted the department in March, seeking to establish who was responsible for fixing the machines, noting that they had received conflicting information from retailers and Re-turn.

However, Mr Smyth clarified this week that shops were responsible for ensuring that the machines are emptied, that tickets are refilled, and that they are working at all times.

Another change to the scheme that is being considered is the feasibility of refunding deposits to customers’ phones instead of issuing credit notes or cash. This would be particularly useful at civic amenity sites, which do not handle small quantities of cash, the minister said.

“As with any new scheme of this scale and complexity, there have been some teething issues, but I am satisfied that Re-turn is taking the right actions to sort these out,” he told the Dáil.

“While Re-turn is providing periodic data to me, it is important not to draw final conclusions prematurely. In reality, a full 12 months of operation will be needed to make that first meaningful assessment.”

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