Westmeath recyclers boost Lidl to hit 100 million returns

Westmeath has been named as one of the top counties for DRS recycling as Lidl Ireland today announced it has become the first retailer to hit 100 million DRS returns across its 180 stores throughout the country.

Since the official launch of the Return Scheme on February 1, Lidl Ireland has processed over 1.5 million eligible bottles and cans across its three stores in County Westmeath.

A total of €270,000 in deposits has in turn been returned to Westmeath customers.

Lidl’s Mullingar Patrick Street store has been the best for recycling, with more than 820,000 units processed, whilst its Athlone store returned more than 410,000 units to date.

With two Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs) available at every Lidl store in Ireland, the retailer has invested more than €50 million to date in installing and recently upgrading its machines to meet high processing demand.

Commenting on the announcement, Robert Ryan, CEO at Lidl Ireland said: “We’re delighted to lead the retail sector in contributing significantly to Ireland’s sustainability targets and to reach the 100 million containers returned milestone after just seven months of the scheme being live.

Our investment in state-of-the-art fitout of machines in our stores has been well worth it and it’s clear that customers are voting with their feet. It’s great to see so many people choose to recycle with their local Lidl store and to play their part in helping Ireland transition to a circular economy.

At the outset of the scheme launching, we planned to process around 3.6 million units per week across 180 stores, but this has been surpassed by up to 25% in some weeks."

According to latest statistics, customers are recycling on average around 24 bottles and cans per visit at Lidl stores and redeeming an average of €4.20 in deposit payouts each time.