Optimising For Bankruptcy
A lesson in disingenuous profit making from the recycling industry and unsurprising lack of foresight from the government.
Ireland recently introduced a bottle and can recycling scheme¹ that relies upon charging the consumer what is what I like to refer to as a “deposit tax” on each qualifying bottle or can sold.
This tax can’t be avoided, except in specific circumstances such as airports where, if you leave the country, you obviously can’t return the bottle.
Now, it being a government scheme pushed primarily by the dying Irish Green Party, it naturally has many, many flaws. No surprises there either way, especially with the Green Party involved and you’re familiar with their anti-nuclear, high tax, punish the public approach to furthering their own, unpopular, ruthless climate change agenda.
The scheme involves having to use the machines to get your money back (instead of using your green bin at home that you pay for anyway), having to carry uncrushed bottles and cans around (they take an awful lot of space), relying on the machines being in operation (they’re often out of service), relying on the fact the machines are accessible (sometimes they’re locked inside of supermarkets or indoor shopping centres), hoping there’s not a queue as there are so few machines, and to top all of that off the major problem that if you…
