Charles backs plastic bottle deposit scheme to save our seas
PRINCE Charles has backed a campaign to stop plastic being dumped in the oceans – and called for a deposit scheme for bottles.
His intervention will increase pressure on manufacturers, supermarkets and politicians to take urgent action.
The Prince, who has long been outspoken on environmental matters, said plastic was building up in the guts of sea creatures, polluting beaches and the ocean floor.
So vast is the amount of plastic rubbish in the sea, Charles said, that there will be ‘one ton of plastic for every three tons of fish by 2025’.
To combat the trend he suggested the UK follows the examples of countries such as Germany, Sweden and Belgium, which reward shoppers who return plastic bottles by refunding them cash.
These countries have ‘reverse vending machines’ in supermarkets that give credits when discarded plastic bottles are put in – and, as the Daily Mail has highlighted, they have better records at recycling plastic bottles than the UK.
The Mail has waged war on the dumping of plastic waste in the environment with its Banish The Bags campaign that led to the 5p charge on disposable plastic bags.
And this newspaper has also led the way in calls for a ban on polluting plastic microbeads in cosmetic products.
Prince Charles told Sky News yesterday: ‘One of the most troubling environmental trends, as I see it at least, is the progressive build-up of plastic waste in the oceans.
‘Eighty per cent of it is coming from the land as everyday products such as plastic bags, straws and bottles as they travel along the rivers to the sea and finish up being spread right around the world, even on the most remote stretches of oceans, the farthest- flung beaches on earth and the deepest reaches of the ocean.
‘Some of that plastic is being swallowed by sea birds, by whales, by dolphins, seals and other creatures to the point
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today where plastic waste is estimated to be in the guts of all marine mammals.’
He said there was a health risk to humans from plastic breaking down in the sea and being eaten by plankton, which are then eaten by fish, ending up in the food chain – and taking toxic materials with them. On the benefits of a plastic bottle deposit scheme, the Prince said: ‘It always seems extraordinary to me we don’t take these sorts of initiatives which can make a dramatic difference.’
Campaigners say Britain should follow Germany, where bottles carry a refundable deposit of 22p. Its bottle-recycling rate went from 72 per cent to more than 98 per cent after the scheme’s 2003 introduction.
In comparison, Britain recycles only 57 per cent of bottles.
Greenpeace said: ‘Companies haven’t been dealing with this problem. They’ve been producing single-use bottles out of a material designed to last for hundreds of years. That makes no sense to most people.’
Industry body The British Soft Drinks Association has opposed bottle deposits and said that, while the schemes ‘operate effectively in other countries’, they would ‘increase cost to consumers, businesses and councils’ in the UK.
The Prince’s intervention follows last week’s unveiling of a Ladybird book he has coauthored on climate change.
Tory MPs yesterday urged the Government to introduce a tax on plastic bottles. Scott Mann, MP for North Cornwall, raised the possibility of such a scheme during a debate on banning non-recyclable or non- compostable packaging.
Eating seafood introduces about 11,000 pieces of plastic into the bloodstream a year, research says. Fragments of plastic are found in mussels, oysters and other shellfish, passing into us when we eat them. Ghent University in Belgium estimates we eat 11,000 plastic lumps a year – with about 60 absorbed into our body.