County Monaghan Town Implements Ground-breaking Scheme to Tackle Plastic Waste
The Carrickmacross Tidy Town Committee officially launched Ireland’s first deposit return Reverse Vending Machine on the 30th of September. The initiative will allow users to insert their used plastic bottles into the machine and redeem a 10 cent voucher per bottle. The plastic bottles will then be taken away by local company Shabra Plastics for processing and re-cycling.
Minister Humphreys welcomed the initiative saying: “Everybody will be aware that there has been growing public concern in relation to environmental issues in the last few years. There has also been an acknowledgment that we all have to play our part – Governments, businesses and citizens around the world – to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
“I would like to congratulate the Carrickmacross Tidy Town Committee, together with the local business community, for leading the way at local level in Ireland. This new reverse vending machine is a simple idea but a brilliant one, which will facilitate and incentivise people living locally to get on board with the fight against plastic waste. If you want people to take action, you have to make it easy for them, and that is exactly what Carrickmacross is doing here. Without a doubt, we have a model here that should be replicated in other towns and villages across the country.”
Committee member Andrew Spare, who spearheaded the initiative, first saw the reverse vending machines in operation in Germany and was keen to get one operational in Carrickmacross to reduce waste and encourage the public to recycle used bottles
The T-70 Reverse Vending machine is produced by Tomra, who have supplied over 83000 machines world wide; Carrickmacross is their first Irish installation. The state-of-the-art machine reads bar codes and bottle shapes and has the ability to recognise acceptable bottles for re-cycling.
The machine, located in Market Square Shopping Centre, is sponsored by Monaghan County Council, Monaghan County Council Environmental Section, Shabra Plastics & Re-Cycling, Quinn Packaging Ltd and O’Gorman’s Supervalu.
If you are more interested in finding out about this initiative. Contact Carrickmacross Tidy Towns on https://www.facebook.com/carrickmacrosstidytowns/
