Unveiled today, Gove’s war on plastic bottles
a DEPOSIT return scheme for drinks bottles and cans will be unveiled by Michael Gove today in a major victory for the Mail’s campaign to slash plastic waste.
as well as plastic bottles, the scheme will cover aluminium cans and glass bottles, the Environment secretary will say.
It is expected to involve putting a small charge on recyclable bottles and drinks containers. this deposit would be returned when empty bottles or cans are returned to a new network of ‘reverse vending machines’.
as the Mail revealed on saturday, Mr Gove will announce a formal consultation on how such a scheme will work in practice.
a poll shows a 10p deposit could prove effective in the UK. In Europe, the deposit charged ranges from 5p to 22p.
In an article for the Mail today, the Environment secretary says ‘reward and return’ schemes are a powerful agent of change.
He also hails this newspaper’s ‘brilliant’ campaigning journalism in helping to raise awareness of the issue. the move is the latest victory for our turn the tide on Plastic campaign. ten years ago the Mail’s campaign secured a small levy on plastic bags. as a result nine billion fewer plastic bags have been used.
the Mail also campaigned for – and won – a ban on plastic microbeads, used in cosmetics and face scrubs, which end up in rivers and seas.
Last night, campaigners said the move was a ‘watershed moment’ in the battle against the litter blighting the countryside.
Countries where such schemes operate have much higher recycling rates than Britain. In Germany the rate is 97 per cent.
an estimated 35million plastic bottles and 20million aluminium cans are sold in the UK every day. Fewer than 60 per cent of bottles are recycled.
author and campaigner Bill Bryson said: ‘I wholeheartedly congratulate Michael Gove for his wisdom in finally accepting the case for a deposit return system in the UK - I never thought I would see this in my lifetime.
‘Future generations will look back on this decision as a piece of supremely enlightened policy– making, and one that raises the prospect of the world’s most beautiful country becoming free from drinks container litter at last.’
samantha Harding, of the Campaign to Protect rural England said: ‘this is a brilliant and significant decision by Michael Gove. I am thrilled that we will finally see the many benefits a deposit system will bring to England, not least the absence of ugly drinks containers in our beautiful countryside. What’s significant is that producers will now pay the full costs of their packaging, reducing the burden on the taxpayer and setting a strong precedent for other schemes where the polluter pays.’
tanya steele, chief executive of WWF said: ‘We welcome any measure to cut the plague of plastic that is choking our oceans and killing wildlife. Plastic waste in the UK will rise by a fifth by 2030.’
Elena Polisano, oceans campaigner at Greenpeace UK said: ‘It’s good to see the Government listen to public opinion. It’s positive that it will include plastic bottles, glass bottles and metal. the Government must also be careful to avoid a voluntary scheme that only applies to some retailers.’
a poll for waste and recycling company suez found that 74 per cent of consumers would be likely to return their plastic drinks bottles or cans if they had to pay a 10p deposit, which they could then reclaim when they returned the containers for recycling.
suez has called for a deposit return scheme which targets plastic bottles and aluminium cans smaller than 700ml, such as soft drinks cans and bottles of water bought to be drunk on the go.