Re-turn: Ireland’s Deposit Return Scheme – A Step Towards a Circular Economy

Through Re-turn, Ireland is taking a significant step towards a circular economy. Abtran’s omnichannel support empowers consumers, producers, and retailers to participate in waste reduction. This collaborative effort is paving the way for a more sustainable future in Ireland.

Like many countries, Ireland faces a significant challenge with plastic waste. A significant proportion of the 1.9 billion beverage containers consumed annually end up in landfills. In response to these concerns and to meet the ambitious recycling targets set by the European Union, Ireland recognised the need for transformative measures to significantly reduce the waste ending up in landfills. In response to the Single Use Plastics Directive and the urgent call to achieve recycling targets of 77% by 2025 and 90% by 2029, Re-Turn was born.

By shifting away from the traditional “take, make, and dispose” culture, Re-Turn helps create a circular economy – where materials are returned and kept in circulation for as long as possible. So, how does it work? When consumers buy a drink in a plastic bottle, aluminium or steel can featuring the Re-turn logo, they pay a small deposit in addition to the price of the drink. The consumer gets the deposit back in full when the empty and undamaged drink container is returned to participating shops and supermarkets. This motivates individuals to engage in recycling actively and significantly contributes to achieving Ireland’s recycling targets.

This fundamental shift in mindset offered a tangible solution to Ireland’s mounting environmental challenges, encouraging consumers, producers, and retailers to participate actively in waste reduction. By binding these stakeholders together in a shared responsibility, Re-turn seeks to reimagine waste as a valuable resource that should be recovered and reused. Abtran was tasked with setting up a state-of-the-art Contact Centre for the client to enhance the delivery of the Re-turn scheme and support the Irish consumer through this new initiative.

Our skilled agents are tasked with managing inbound interactions from consumers who have questions, concerns, or challenges with the newly rolled-out national scheme. We deployed our Turnkey cloud-based Amazon Connect solution, providing many avenues of consumer support, including telephony, web chat, email, and social media.

Abtran played a critical role in supporting the successful launch of Re-turn. We were able to set up the entire service in just three weeks, a remarkable feat achieved through our unique collaborative onboarding approach. This rapid deployment was instrumental in ensuring a smooth program launch for Re-turn.

Recognising that many consumers prefer online interactions and 24/7 connectivity, Abtran strategically utilised digital channels from the outset. Our web chat and chatbot support allow consumers to seek assistance anytime. Similarly, we closely manage all direct messages across Re-turn’s Instagram, Facebook, X, and LinkedIn accounts. These digital channels reduce the dependency on traditional, more time-consuming agent-based interactions.

Abtran also places huge importance on more traditional channels, with knowledgeable agents providing convenient and reliable telephony support from Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Agents are equipped to deliver seamless, personalised support, ensuring that every interaction is handled carefully and efficiently while building customer loyalty.

Centralising knowledge management became a big part of our strategy to equip us to deal with each interaction promptly. Abtran’s commitment to innovation extends beyond speed. We were proud to be one of the first contact centres in Ireland to deploy Amazon Q’s Generative AI solution. This AI chatbot helps our agents search through and query the data and create natural language responses. This cutting-edge technology significantly reduced training time for our agents, enabling them to reach competency in a matter of hours instead of weeks. Amazon Q proved exceptional at quickly providing far more nuanced answers to queries than is often achievable via a traditional knowledge base. Also, its layering setup meant that alongside the distinct answer being provided, the agent could quickly access the information source to provide additional detail. It is an excellent tool that greatly enhanced agent speed-to-competency in that critical, initial ‘go-live’ period.

By consolidating resources and information, we created a structured, easy-to-navigate knowledge base, enabling the team to access accurate and relevant data swiftly. This information is also plugged into Amazon Connect’s innovative Q feature. Thanks to this user-friendly knowledge base, our agents can make informed decisions and maintain consistent service delivery levels.

Our in-depth operational and case management dashboards allow for efficient coordination, management, and prioritisation of interactions across the various platforms. The solution also allows for seamless reporting for the client in close collaboration with our expert Abtran Business Intelligence Team, including tailored metrics around the Omnichannel service, outbound manual calls, call handling times, and Key Performance Indicators summaries. This visibility allows us to be flexible and reactive and to scale the service to meet demand in response to busier periods and fluctuating consumer requirements.

Abtran’s commitment to Re-Turn’s success extends beyond the contact centre. We are providing additional value through field-based customer service. Our team directly gathers valuable customer insights from consumers and retailers. This crucial feedback is instrumental in driving continuous improvement for the Re-Turn programme.

Alan Pearson at Re-Turn commented:
“We are thrilled to be partnering with Abtran to provide an outstanding service to our customers. Our collaborative partnership has helped us to make a positive impact on sustainability in Ireland and we are so proud of the incredible progress we’ve achieved.”