Deposit Return Scheme for Plastic Bottles to be Announced

Deposit Return Scheme for Plastic Bottles to Be Announced ‘In Days’ 

A deposit return scheme for bottles is set to be announced as part of the Environment Secretary Michael Gove’s plans to increase recycling rates and reduce plastic litter. Government officials are looking at possible ways that they can introduce a small charge on drinks cans and plastic bottles.

How it will work

The charge would be refunded to customers who take their empty bottles and cans to a reverse vending machine. Michael Gove is expected to reveal more details about his plans next week, after beginning an investigation into how a deposit return scheme could potentially work last year. He was moved to do this after seeing the BBC’s Blue Planet Documentary which showed the devastating effects that plastic litter was having on wildlife. Ministers visited Norway to see how their successful scheme operates and to consider how a scheme could work in the UK.

About 35million plastic bottles and 20million aluminium cans are sold in the UK every day, and less than 60% of plastic bottles are recycled. The amount of plastic we throw away is predicted to be over a million tonnes by 2030.

In countries who have adopted deposit return schemes, recycling rates are higher than 90%. In 8 states in the US, deposit return schemes have reduced drinks container littering by as much as 84%.

Support for the scheme

MP’s from all parties have given their support to the plans, as have the WWF, Coca Cola, Tesco, and some of the other big retailers.

Why a deposit return scheme is needed

The amount of plastic waste we produce is set to rise by a fifth by the end of the next decade if no action is taken. A report published by The WWF conservation group predicts that we’ll also be throwing away 34% more crisp packets, 41% more plastic straws, and 9% more plastic bottles. It also said that in this year alone, we’ll discard over 4 billion single-use coffee cups and lids. We’re also the biggest consumers of straws in Europe, and we use a staggering 42 billion of them every year.

The charity say that the UK needs to end its reliance on single-use plastic items and recycle and reuse more materials. They are also campaigning for a tax on single-use coffee cups and a ban on avoidable plastic by 2025. The report ended with a damning fact: We recycle less than a third of the plastic waste we produce.

What Options do we have?

We have a range of plastic cup recycling bins and paper cup recycling bins that are perfect for improving how much cup waste is not recycled.

This includes our 

• 100 Litre Cup Recycling Bin - This is great for recycling both plastic and paper cups and comes with an internal liquid reservior.
• Novelty 120 Litre Coffee Cup Bin - Made in the UK and used by both #LeedsByExample and Bristol Waste it fits into any envrionment.
• Large Cup Recycling Bin - Available in both 120 litre and 160 litre it provides an option to collect waste cups in high footfall areas.