PLASTIC BOTTLE BETRAYAL
Ministers signal they’re against bottle deposits, leading to fears of :
A deposit scheme for plastic bottles is set to be rejected by ministers. A government insider said it was unlikely to get the go-ahead despite evidence it could slash litter and boost recycling.
Under the scheme a 10p or 20p surcharge would be levied on bottles and cans. Customers get their money back if they return the empties to collection points in stores.
Studies in Europe and elsewhere show that such initiatives can push recycling rates up to 98 per cent. The current UK total is just 57 per cent. Keep Britain Tidy said it was astonishing that the Government was considering ruling out the idea.
Greenpeace said deposit schemes were effective, popular and protected the oceans from a tide of waste. Every day around 15million plastic bottles – 5.5billion a year – are dumped in Britain after just one use. Many are burned or go to landfill, where they take up to 450 years to degrade.
Last month environment minister Therese Coffey told MPs a future litter strategy could tackle the issue.
However officials working for Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom have not been impressed with a trial deposit scheme in Scotland. A source cited ‘significant uncertainties’ over the evidence, saying the proposal was now ‘unlikely’ but ‘not off the table’.
Willie Mackenzie of Greenpeace said deposit schemes – championed by the Daily Mail – had boosted collection
rates of drinks containers in Norway to 96 per cent and in Germany to 98.5 per cent.
‘We dump 15million plastic bottles every day, with many ending up on our beaches, in landfill, and in the sea,’ he said. ‘Yet the Government says that pilot schemes have produced inconclusive results.
‘We know these schemes work. Millions of people in countries including Australia and Canada use deposit schemes, businesses have adapted to them, drinks companies have embraced them and they’ve had a huge effect in reducing the amount of plastic entering the environment. Sixty per cent of the British public support the introduction of a deposit scheme.’
Richard McIlwain of Keep Britain Tidy said: ‘It is little short of astonishing that the Government should rule out a deposit scheme for plastic bottles in England, just as more and more organisations are calling for its introduction.
‘We want to understand how it can reach this conclusion in the absence of discussion with Keep Britain Tidy and other members of the Government’s litter strategy advisory group.
‘If not a deposit scheme, then what? We cannot continue letting 15million bottles a day pollute our environment.’
Dr Sue Kinsey of the Marine Conservation Society suggested ministers may be turning against a bottle deposit scheme because of lobbying by soft drinks companies. She said: ‘ Why rule out a scheme which has been successful worldwide without a proper study into the pros and cons for England?
‘Without a proper examination of the facts for England it would seem, again, that the Department for Environment has been swayed by pressure from an industry opposed to deposit return schemes.’
The Government had set a target for 75 per cent of plastic consumer bottles to be recycled by this year.
The actual rate, based on bin collections, is 57 per cent.
Environment groups say Britain should follow the example of Germany, where bottles carry a refundable deposit of 25 cents (22p). There the recycling rate went from around 72 per cent in 2003 to 98.5 per cent now. Similar success has been seen in Scandinavia, parts of Australia and Canada.
Samantha Harding, litter programme director at the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, said: ‘If the Government wants to ensure we can live in a clean country that uses its resources efficiently, whilst our shopkeepers and local councils receive the financial benefits such a system can bring, then I’m confident that it will look again at the growing evidence in favour of such schemes. The truth is, we can’t afford not to.’
The Scottish report into the pilot schemes, published in 2015 and considered by officials in England, raised concerns about the amount of money it could cost to set up the deposit return system and about whether consumers would embrace the idea.
Last night a spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: ‘There are no plans for a deposit return scheme for plastic bottles.
‘We have made great progress in boosting recycling rates and making more products recyclable, but there is still much more to be done.
‘Almost all local authorities now collect plastic bottles as part of their general waste collection services.’
A forthcoming litter strategy will consider other methods of reducing plastic waste.
AS the paper that fought successfully to curb the blight of single-use supermarket bags, the Mail is dismayed that ministers appear set to reject a crackdown on discarded plastic bottles.
Elsewhere in the world, bottle depositand-refund schemes have boosted recycling rates to more than 95 per cent, while giving children a strong incentive to pick up litter, instead of dropping it.
With 15 million bottles dumped in Britain every day – many ending up threatening wildlife, scarring cities, rivers, beaches and the countryside – the time for such a scheme has surely come. Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom should take note.