Plastic bottles: Now Tesco joins the fight

BRITAIN’s biggest supermarket has backed plans to tackle the scourge of throw-away plastic bottles.

In a significant move, Tesco broke ranks with other stores to say it would back a deposit and return scheme (DRs).

some trade bodies and high street stores have refused to back a scheme which would see consumers given cash back for recycling their waste – but the position appears to be crumbling in the face of growing public support.

The scottish Daily Mail has previously revealed how Coca-Cola, the biggest producer of soft-drinks bottles, is prepared to support DRs after years of opposition.

Now Tesco has joined Iceland and the Co-op in backing the idea, while Marks & spencer and Waitrose appear to be coming round to the suggestion.

In a significant announcement, Tesco said: ‘We do support developing a cost-effective deposit and return scheme, and are currently working with a number of partners to scope a project to explore how this can operate in practice and at scale.

‘We view DRs as only one aspect of the holistic approach that is required to achieve the broader goals of reducing waste and increasing recycling in the UK.’

Tesco says it will also make all packaging fully recyclable or compostable by 2025.

The move is yet another significant development in the Mail’s campaign, which would see people pay a small fee on bottles and cans to be refunded if they return empty containers to collection points.

The scottish Government has committed to introducing such a scheme, along with a raft of other green measures such as a ban on the sale of plastic cotton buds, to protect our oceans from waste, as early as 2019.

support has grown following a tide of plastic poison washing up on our shores.

The public was also outraged following alarming evidence from sir David Attenborough’s Blue Planet BBC series which featured the threat posed by plastic pollution to the oceans and sea life.

speaking at the launch of the government’s environment plan yesterday, Prime Minister Theresa May reminisced about taking back glass lemonade bottles to claim the deposit.

But she gave no clue as to whether her government will eventually back the scheme.

Mrs May said: ‘On the issue of plastic bottle deposits, we’re looking at what actually is the best way – is it to recycle more or is it to use a deposit? We want to see the evidence base for what works.

‘I’m old enough to remember the days of Corona bottles – it was a glass bottle, not plastic – and we took it back and you got your sixpence at the time.

‘so this is not the first time that schemes such as this have been used here... but I think the important question is, let’s look at the evidence and see what would have the most impact.’

Westminster sources said that a decision on whether to press ahead with a deposit return scheme was ‘in the balance’.

One source said the evidence suggested a national scheme would be a ‘net positive’ for the environment, but said there could be more effective ways of tackling pollution caused by bottles.

Earlier campaigns by this paper led the Government to implement a 5p charge on plastic bags and introduce a world leading ban on the use of plastic microbeads in personal care products.

In other countries, such as Norway and Germany, supermarkets host reverse vending machines for used bottles and cans. These pay out vouchers that can be cashed in at tills.

Iceland Foods, which has more than 900 stores across the country, said it is willing to install such machines in support of trials here. Tesco is looking at doing the same.

The National Federation of Retail Newsagents (NFRN), which speaks for 15,000 corner shops, is also part of a growing coalition supporting a DRs.

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