Corner shops back Mail on plastic bottle deposits plan
THE nation’s corner shops have backed calls for a deposit scheme for plastic bottles and drinks cans.
The National Federation of Retail Newsagents, which speaks for more than 15,000 corner shops, said it would support trials of a scheme in Scotland – and that it is time for a countrywide system to be considered.
Britain’s recycling efforts have stalled, and an astonishing 15 million plastic bottles are thrown away every day.
The bottles – along with cans, coffee cups, cigarette packs and other litter – are scarring towns, parks, rivers and beaches. Some are burned for power but the majority end up in landfill sites.
To tackle the scandal, the Daily Mail’s Take Back Your Bottles campaign aims to increase recycling rates by introducing a bottle deposit and refund scheme by which empties can be returned.
Recycling rates in Germany and Scandinavia, which have bottle deposits, are up to 98 per cent.
The Scottish Government is considering a trial, and last month Coca-Cola announced it would back the scheme. Now, the NFRN’s decision also to throw its weight behind trials in Scotland has been announced at the federation’s conference in Dundee.
Gail Winfield, NFRN president in Scotland, said: ‘Our members are responsible retailers who want to play a role in protecting the environment and who recognise the damage plastic bottles and cans can do.
‘It’s for that reason we have agreed today to support the Scottish Government’s aim of increasing the rate of recycling but we want to ensure that any schemes to achieve this are developed in co-operation with the independent retail sector.’
MPs on the Commons environmental audit committee are con- ducting an inquiry into dealing with plastic bottles and coffee cups that are not recycled, including looking at a deposit and refund system.
The move by corner shops will fuel pressure on the Government to support a deposit scheme as part of a new litter strategy being developed for England.
Paul Baxter, NFRN chief executive, said: ‘With Westminster’s committee now looking at the damage done to the environment by plastic bottles and by coffee cups, this is ceasing to be just a Scottish issue.’
Last month Coca-Cola dropped its opposition to the idea of trials after surveys found two thirds of its own customers support the idea.
David Palmer- Jones, the boss of one of Britain’s biggest household rubbish collection firms, Suez, said there is a sound economic case for a scheme, saying it would ‘put pounds in the pockets of both households and business through reduced waste disposal costs and reduced need to buy virgin raw materials’.
The last government introduced a 5p charge on plastic bags, which cut the number issued at tills by more than 70 per cent. The Government is now working on plans to ban plastic microbeads in products to protect the oceans.
Campaigners argue the next step is to deal with plastic bottle blight by introducing a scheme charging a deposit of 10p to 20p.