The Government is today inviting views on how reward and return
schemes for drinks containers could work in England by issuing a
call for evidence.
More than eight million tonnes of plastic are discarded into the
world’s oceans each year, putting marine wildlife under serious
threat.
Up to 80% of this is estimated to have been originally lost or
discarded on land before washing out to sea, and plastic bottles
are a particular concern - with figures showing just 57% of these
sold in the UK in 2016 were collected for recycling. This
compares to a record 90% of deposit-marked cans and bottles that
were returned to dedicated recycling facilities in Denmark, and a
return rate of almost 80% of beverage containers in South
Australia, both of which have a form of deposit return
scheme.
To improve these numbers and increase recycling, Environment
Secretary has today asked organisations
and individuals to share their views with the government on the
advantages and disadvantages of different types of reward and
return schemes for plastic, metal and glass drinks containers
that could help reduce the number of bottles entering our
waterways.
The call for evidence opens today for four weeks and ministers
have asked the working group to accelerate its work and report
back early in the New Year.
, Secretary of State for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said:
“We must protect our oceans and marine life from plastic waste if
we are to be the first generation to leave our environment in a
better state than we found it.
That means tackling the rise in plastic bottles entering our
waters by making it simpler and easier to recycle and dispose of
them appropriately.
Today we are launching a call for evidence to help us understand
how reward and return schemes for plastic bottles and other
drinks containers could work in England.
This approach has already seen great success in other countries
such as Denmark in curbing plastic pollution and we want to hear
people’s ideas on how we could make it work in England.
This adds to the progress we have already made in cleaning up our
oceans by significantly reducing plastic bag use and drawing up
one of the world’s toughest bans on plastic microbeads.”
The evidence submitted on will be examined by the government’s
working group, set up as part of the Litter Strategy, which
includes brand and retail giants such as Coca Cola and
Tesco.
This builds on successful waste initiatives already launched by
the government, including the 5p plastic bag charge which has
seen enormous success in changing consumer behaviour by reducing
use by 83 per cent. Some nine billion fewer carrier bags have
been distributed since the charge was introduced, with more than
£95million raised donated to environmental, educational and other
good causes.
In addition, legislation for the government’s ban on microbeads -
welcomed by campaigners as one of the toughest in the world –
will be introduced later this year and we are now assessing how
best to tackle other sources of microplastics from polluting the
seas.
ENDS
Notes to editors
1. The call for evidence will be published here: https://consult.defra.gov.uk/waste-and-recycling/call-for-evidence-drinks-containers
2. The scope of the inquiry includes plastic, metal and glass
drinks containers.
3. According to the 2016 RECOUP UK Household Plastics Collection
Survey, 57% of plastic bottles sold in the UK are collected for
recycling.
4. Reward and return schemes in other countries vary
substantially (for example by deposit amount and whether the
scheme is regional / national), as do their wider recycling
systems (whether kerbside is provided or not) and producer
responsibility measures.
5. For more information on the working group and Litter Strategy,
visit:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/litter-strategy-for-england
5. Results of the call for evidence will be analysed by the
working group, following which recommendations on the way forward
will be presented to ministers
