Aldi said customers have returned 550,000 items to its stores in Tullamore and Edenderry since the introduction of the can and plastic bottle deposit return scheme earlier this year.

Can and bottle deposit scheme sees over 500,000 items returned to two Offaly stores

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Figures released by the supermarket chain Aldi claim that the Deposit Return Scheme has been "picking up steam," with more than 500,000 items returned to the Aldi stores in Tullamore and Edenderry since the scheme's introduction in February.

Last month was described as the most successful month to date for the Deposit Return Scheme at Aldi, with shoppers across Ireland collectively returning 16.7 million used plastic bottles or cans.

In Offaly, shoppers returned 210,000 items in June, bringing the total number of items returned locally to 550,000 since the launch of the scheme.

This equates to a total of €93,000 in vouchers being issued at the two stores in Offaly to date.

It means that these two Aldi stores have processed an average of 275,000 items since February, and have each issued more than €46,000 in returned deposits.

The supermarket chain said this was "slightly above the national average" across all of Aldi’s 161 stores in Ireland, which have handled an average of 264,000 items each since the launch of the scheme, worth almost €45,000 in returned deposits".

Under the scheme empty bottles and cans containers marked with the Re-turn logo can be returned to the reverse vending machine at all participating retailers, regardless of where the item was originally purchased.

Customers receive a voucher for their returned items, which can be put against their shopping bill or returned in cash.

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