Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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104. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government to report on the salaries of the CEO and directors of a scheme (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44670/25]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Re-turn is a not-for-profit company, limited by guarantee and set up by beverage producers to meet their obligations under the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) Regulations. Re-turn is responsible for all operational and funding matters relating to the DRS, including staffing of the company. Re-turn is not required to declare individual CEO or Directors salaries directly to the Department; however, they must publish overall remuneration and benefit costs relating to the Board and Chief Executive/General Manager in the annual report.

Re-turn published its 2024 annual report on 25 July 2025, which can be found here: re-turn.ie/re-turn-2024-annual-report/.

The report includes information relating to director and employee costs.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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105. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government regarding the Return scheme, the number of unclaimed deposits per month over the past 24 months; the total value of unclaimed deposits to date in 2025; the value of unclaimed deposits per month over the past 24 months; the total value of unclaimed deposits to date in 2025; the overall percentage reduction-increase in recycling of single-use containers; the overall percentage reduction-increase of single-use containers per month since the start of the return scheme; and the total number of single-use containers used in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, in tabular form. [44671/25]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) was introduced on 1 February 2024 to encourage more people to recycle plastic bottles and cans and to deliver on our ambitious EU targets for the recycling of those products.

Re-turn always encourages consumers to redeem their deposits, and it is important that the public is aware that Re-turn retains an open-ended liability to refund deposits to consumers, regardless of when or where the product was purchased. 

On 25 July 2025, Re-turn published its annual report for 2024 and a link to the report can be found here: re-turn.ie/re-turn-2024-annual-report/.  In the annual report, Re-turn provides comprehensive information relating to the scheme's performance in its first year of operation.  It also outlines the income received from unredeemed deposits in 2024. While confirmed deposit figures for 2025 are not yet available from the scheme, as the return rate improves, the rate of unredeemed deposits reduces.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has responsibility for reporting official waste-related statistics for Ireland to the EU. The first year of reporting this material stream under the Single Use Plastics Directive was 2022. The EPA's report for 2023 is undergoing validation currently and is expected to be published in the autumn.  The Agency's statistics webpage for single use plastics can be accessed here: www.epa.ie/our-services/monitoring--assessment/waste/national-waste-statistics/single-use-plastics/.