Sir, – Ireland’s Deposit Return Scheme may be well intentioned, but its implementation often feels cumbersome.Customers arrive at supermarkets carrying plastic bags filled with empty cans and bottles, only to find machines out of order, full or refusing perfectly eligible containers. When a machine is working, each item must generally be fed into it individually, turning a simple recycling trip into a slow and tedious exercise.Having emptied the bag one container at a time, customers may then find there is no suitable bin nearby to dispose of or recycle the plastic bag itself. To complete the environmental irony, the machine prints a paper voucher as proof of the return.In other European countries, bulk return machines allow customers to empty an entire bag of containers at once. Surely Ireland could adopt similar technology rather than expecting people to queue while every can is inserted, rejected, rotated and inserted again. A recycling scheme should make environmentally responsible behaviour convenient. Instead, the present system risks discouraging the very people whose participation it depends upon.At the moment, the only thing being recycled efficiently is the public’s patience. – Yours, etc,ENDA MCGEEVER,Goatstown, Dublin 14.