Over 1.2m cans and bottles processed at Lidl’s two Sligo stores as part of Deposit Return Scheme

Since the official launch of the Irish government's DRS scheme on 1 February 2024, Lidl Ireland has processed over 1.2 million eligible bottles and cans across its two stores in County Sligo and returned more than €210,000 in deposits to Sligo customers.

Topping the leader board for DRS recycling is Lidl's Finislkin Road store, which has processed more than 660,000 units, whilst its other Sligo town store at Cranmore Road returned more than 550,000 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.

"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. We're certainly punching above our weight in terms of processing volumes, and we have recently invested further in upgrading our reverse vending machines in every store to meet high customer demand.

I'm delighted that the Irish public is choosing to commit to a sustainable future with Lidl."