Sir, – For many pensioners, living out the twilight years of their lives, one of the great scientific achievements of recent times has been the development of the ability to put a pint of draught porter into a can. Not only did this negate the need for those whose mobility has become challenging to leave their fireside to enjoy a pint, but the cost of having a couple of pints was put well within their reach too.
But just as we settled into the comforting notion that all was well with the world, the government, most likely prodded by the Greens, intervened to upset things. One of their members noticed while on holiday abroad that a refundable levy was attached to the cost of buying a can of beer as a means of reducing inappropriate disposal of the empty.
Sounds great, but with all of these things, unless such schemes are well thought through, the innocent end up paying the price and this scheme is no different. No one asked what happens to the many thousands of pensioners who will struggle with all the coming and going necessary to retrieve the levy.
These are people who never litter and who meticulously ensure that their empty cans are disposed of in the proper bin without any goading required. The net result of this scheme however will see the cost of one of their little comforts increase significantly – which over a year could amount to €200 – with zero contribution to achieving the stated goal of the scheme: reducing inappropriate disposal of empties. Not many can afford what for them is just another tax.
Working on the assumption that this scheme is well intended, there is a simple solution to ensuring that the lives of the elderly are not negatively impacted: exempt the pensioners. This can easily be done by showing the bus pass at the point of purchase.
And I hardly need to remind politicians that contented elderly constituents tend to let sleeping dogs lie, but woe betide anyone who comes between a pensioner and his can of draught stout. – Yours, etc,
JIM O’SULLIVAN,
Rathedmond,
Sligo.
Sir, – In 1983, my family and I took a trip from Boston across the northern US and into Canada, by way of a converted VW bus. On our return trip we ran out of money, but worked out that by depositing one adult and two children with a collection sack, then driving on about a kilometre and leaving the bus for the other partner and children to do the same, we could solve our problem. Easily filling a couple of sacks of cans and bottles from beside the road in an hour or so, we would drive on the next town. Every town, small and large, had a recycling centre which would take both bottles and cans no problem, so by doing this every few hours we were able to refuel both the bus and ourselves all the way back.
This, as I said, was 40 years ago! – Yours, etc,
MALCOLM BRAY,
Loughrea,
Co Galway.