Cork Supervalu and Centra customers recycle 30 million bottles and cans

Cork Centra and Supervalu stores have received 30,504,145 returns to reverse vending machines in the last year, new data has shown.

SuperValu and Centra are marking 210 million container returns in over 550 stores nationwide since the launch of the deposit return scheme 12 months ago, equivalent to enabling every citizen in Ireland to recycle 42 containers.

In Cork, this figure was significantly higher, with the figure being the equivalent of every citizen recycling 52 containers.

SuperValu and Centra invested €28 million in reverse vending machines across their store networks nationwide, with 703 being installed in 560 stores across Ireland.

A regional breakdown of containers returned to SuperValu and Centra stores shows that Cork has the second highest amount of containers returned at 30,504,145.

This was just behind Dublin at 43,540,756, while in third was Meath at 11,923,174 and fourth was Galway at 10,371,981 – Cork people recycled more than three times more containers than the other 22 counties in Ireland.

Speaking about the scheme, Luke Hanlon, Managing Director of SuperValu and Centra said: “We are pleased that as a community retailer with the largest offering of reverse vending machines across every county in Ireland that SuperValu and Centra have enabled the equivalent of every citizen in Ireland being able to make a positive recycling impact.

“Over the course of the last 12 months, a remarkable 210 million containers have been returned via our machines which has led to a reduction in litter locally and enabled Ireland’s transition to a circular economy.

“This milestone is a testament to our customers who have made recycling containers a natural part of their grocery shopping routine – they see the benefits to them and the planet and have been supportive of the initiative.”

According to SuperValu and Centra, consumer behaviour indicates strong adoption of the scheme with Saturdays being the busiest period for recycling in SuperValu stores, with consumers bringing higher volume of returns at once, averaging 23 containers per visit.

Centra customers tend to recycle a smaller number of containers but make more regular trips to stores to return containers.