EDITOR, I am writing to highlight a growing concern I’ve noticed regarding the Re-turn deposit scheme and its impact on the children of Co Kildare.
While the environmental benefits of the scheme are evident in our local towns, from Kildare town to Athy are witnessing an alarming ‘side effect’ that merits urgent public discussion.
The 15c and 25c deposits have effectively turned discarded alcohol containers into a form of currency for minors.
It is now a common sight to see children scouring public bins and ditches specifically for beer and cider cans to fund their pocket money.
By incentivizing children to handle, sort, and value alcohol-branded waste, we are inadvertently undermining the Public Health (Alcohol) Act.
We have strict watersheds for television advertising to protect children from alcohol branding, yet this scheme ensures those same brands are literally placed in their hands as a ‘reward’.
Furthermore, the hygiene and safety risks of children ‘bin-diving’ for dregs of alcohol and potentially broken glass cannot be ignored also most of the return machines reek of stale alcohol.
We must ask ourselves: are we cleaning up our county at the expense of normalising alcohol brands for the next generation?
I believe it is time for a conversation on whether ‘charity-only’ return options should be prioritised at local Reverse Vending Machines to decouple the financial reward from alcohol-branded litter for our youth.
