Scots launch plastic bottle deposit scheme

MINISTERS are under growing pressure to curb the plastic bottle menace – after Scotland announced a new deposit scheme.

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said a deposit and return scheme will apply to plastic and glass bottles and aluminium cans. She said it would ‘do more to support the circular economy and reduce waste’. Former Tory chairman Grant Shapps urged the Government to follow suit.

Mr Shapps said he ‘very much’ hoped England would follow Scotland saying it is ‘long overdue in my view’.

The Daily Mail has called for an end to the tide of plastic polluting Britain, with our Banish the Bottles campaign. The UK currently recycles just 57 per cent of the millions of bottles sold each day. The rest end up in landfill or as litter.

Campaigners say Britain should follow Germany, where bottles carry a refundable deposit of 22p. A Defra spokesman said recycling rates for plastic bottles have risen from less than 13,000 tons in 2000 to over 330,000 tons in 2015.