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Ireland has just launched a scheme to charge a deposit on bottles and cans which is refunded when consumers return them to recycling machines in supermarkets.

The Irish have set up a non profit making company to manage the scheme, funded by the drinks making firms, which should avoid the financial problems that have dogged the industry in the United States.

Many privately owned American recycling companies are in danger of going out of business because the fee they get from state governments, under the Bottle Bill, has not been increased for years, even though their costs have soared.

Produced and presented by Russell Padmore

(Picture: Reverse vending machines for Ireland’s new deposit return recycling scheme)