Bury a ‘recycling pioneer’
COUNCIL SAYS IT PROPOSED POLICY OF A RETURN SCHEME FOR CANS AND BOTTLES
COUNCIL bosses in Bury have claimed a pioneering victory after the government announced plans for a deposit return scheme for bottles and cans.
The authority was the first in the country to propose the idea in July last year, according to a senior councillor.
Coun Alan Quinn said the town hall’s plans have gained the support of the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority (GMWDA), the biggest waste authority in Europe.
He said the GMWDA has now submitted evidence to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
Coun Quinn said he was one of four cross-party signatories in Bury to write to Environment Secretary Michael Gove through a campaign group to suggest a national policy.
Consumers could face paying a deposit on drinks bottles and cans which is repaid when they hand them in for recycling under Government plans to tackle plastic waste build-up.
Mr Gove confirmed ministers would introduce a deposit return scheme for single use drinks containers such as plastic and glass bottles and aluminium cans in England, subject to consultation.
The move aims to boost recycling rates and cut litter, and comes amid increasing concern over the issue of single use plastic waste, much of which ends up as rubbish polluting the countryside and oceans, as highlighted by David Attenborough in his BBC series Blue Planet II. UK consumers use an estimated 13 billion plastic drinks bottles a year, but more than three billion are incinerated, sent to landfill or end up as litter in towns, the countryside and the seas.
And at his first ‘green summit’ for Greater Manchester, mayor Andy Burnham announced plans to axe singleuse plastics from the conurbation by 2020.
Coun Quinn, the council’s cabinet member for environment, said: “It’s Bury’s initiative that’s gone nationwide. Bury council was the first council in England to call for this in July last year. “We proposed it and it was passed at council. It was then taken and adopted by the GMWDA who in October submitted evidence and the government said they would be minded to look at a deposit return scheme. “It’s a big first for Bury and a national scheme that started in Greater Manchester.” The consultation will look at how such a scheme could work in England, alongside other measures to increase recycling rates, which Coun Alan Quinn have stalled in recent years. Options could include providing cash rewards for returning bottles and cans without an upfront deposit through ‘reverse vending machines,’ where consumers insert the container and get coins in return.
Mr Gove said: “We can be in no doubt that plastic is wreaking havoc on our marine environment - killing dolphins, choking turtles and degrading our most precious habitats.
“It is absolutely vital we act now to tackle this threat and curb the millions of plastic bottles a day that go unrecycled.
“We have already banned harmful microbeads and cut plastic bag use, and now we want to take action on plastic bottles to help clean up our oceans.”