Rumbled! Drink firms’ bid to stop bottle deposit plan
Secret notes show they told minister: Public just don’t care
SOFT drinks firms are trying to block moves to end the plastic bottle blight, claiming shoppers aren’t worried by it.
They have been lobbying ministers to stop the introduction of a deposit and return scheme which would boost recycling.
The Daily Mail can reveal they told a minister ‘the environmental impact of packaging was low on consumers’ priorities when buying a soft drink’. But green campaigners accused soft drinks firms of trying to ‘bamboozle ministers with their dodgy spin’.
They pointed to recent surveys showing that 78 per cent of people were in favour of a deposit and return scheme amid evidence it would prevent millions of bottles ending up as litter or being thrown away, burned or buried in landfill.
The Daily Mail has been at the forefront of campaigns to highlight the scourge of plastic pollution.
Environment minister Dr Therese Coffey held a meeting with the drinks industry on October 24. Details were revealed following a Freedom of Information Act request by Greenpeace.
Notes taken by an official in the environment department DEFRA reveal some drinks industry bosses argued against a scheme, suggesting that having it alongside council kerbside collections of plastic would be ‘confusing’. Some firms suggested customers were not interested in the idea of getting cash back for a returned plastic bottle. The notes state: ‘Producers explained that the environmental impact of packaging was low on consumers’ priorities when buying a soft drink.’
Lucozade Ribena Suntory, Nestlé and Danone, which both sell bottled water, and Britvic UK were at the meeting. Coca-Cola, which has broken ranks with others in the industry to support a deposit scheme, was also there.
The British Retail Consortium, which speaks for supermarkets, was present alongside the British Soft Drinks Association. Both argue against a return scheme. Meeting notes also state: ‘Litter is an issue on the streets and in the marine environment, and this justifies government intervention.’
Environment Secretary Michael Gove favours a deposit and return scheme for plastic bottles and recently told the Daily Mail: ‘There is a surge of plastic clogging our rivers and oceans.’ Greenpeace UK senior oceans campaigner Louise Edge said: ‘Soft drink giants are clutching at straws in their attempt to delay the action on throwaway plastic we so badly need.
‘The argument that consumers don’t care much about the environmental impact of plastic when buying a soft drink is completely disingenuous. Survey after survey has shown that a vast majority of British public does support deposit return schemes for plastic bottles and would like to see plastic-free aisles in supermarkets.
‘Instead of trying to bamboozle ministers with their dodgy spin, plastic bottle producers should be listening to what people are actually saying and start reducing the billions of plastic bottles they churn out every year.’
While the British Soft Drinks Association has opposed a deposit and return scheme, last night its director general Gavin Partington insisted the industry was open to exploring whether a ‘properly considered’ scheme could be part of an ‘overall solution’.
FOR all their pretence about caring for the environment, we discover from a Freedom of Information request that soft drinks firms are secretly lobbying ministers to abandon plans for a plastic bottle deposit scheme.
Bizarrely, they claim customers don’t see plastic pollution as a problem – even though a recent survey showed 78 per cent support the deposit scheme proposal.
Crucially, Environment Secretary Michael Gove is also in favour. He should not be deflected by these self-serving hypocrites.