The government today invited 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 those
sold in the UK in 2016 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 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 opened on 2 October for four weeks. On 27
October this was extended by three weeks to close on 20 November.
This will allow as many people as possible to feed in their views
on this important inquiry. Ministers have asked the Voluntary and
Economic Incentives Working Group, set up as part of
the Litter Strategy, to
accelerate its work and report back early in the New Year - this
timetable has not been altered.
Environment Secretary 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 will be examined by the government’s
working group 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.
