The Mail is right to battle the blight of bottles
THANK you for taking up the project to reduce the pollution by plastic bottles around the country. I am fully in support because, having retired within the past year, I am out walking locally more often and it pains me to see these unsightly bottles defiling Scotland’s beautiful countryside.
K. DUNN, Dalgety Bay, Fife.
WHO could be against the sort of bottle and can deposit return scheme the Mail is advocating? Of course there would be start-up costs and no doubt drinks firms would be against that. But how would they feel about the alternative – a mandatory tax on every bottle and can to pay for the clear-up after they end up as litter?
W. ADAMSON, Ayr.
LITTER is an increasing problem in our throwaway society and it’s high time we took action. We should return to biodegradable wrappers – paper and cardboard– for fast food and ban those dreadful polystyrene containers. And yes, let’s make plastic bottles and drinks cans worth picking up by putting a ‘reward’ on them through your suggested deposit return scheme.
LORNA AGNEW, Dumfries.
SO, ‘the battle against the plague of plastic litter that blights Scotland’s rural and urban landscapes moves to Holyrood’ (Mail). Good news! A deposit-return scheme is exactly the sort of thing Holyrood ought to be debating. Here is a chance to really improve things instead of indulging in party-political posturing about Brexit – a matter that only Westminster ought to be considering.
WILLIAM DRUMMOND, Edinburgh.
I HAVE recently returned from a spell living in Sweden where they have ‘reverse vending machines’, which allow you to feed in used plastic bottles and cans. They are usually located in supermarkets and in return you get a receipt which can be converted into cash at the till. You get paid about 10p per can and small bottle and 20p per large bottle. It is a brilliant scheme and because of it there is very little litter and people go around the cities with bags, particularly during the numerous festivals, collecting bottles and cans from the ground, bins – even from people’s hands. It works very well and also provides a useful source of income to some people, so I think it would be simply wonderful if a similar scheme could be introduced here.
HELEN BLACKITH, Via email.
WHEN we lived in Alberta, Canada, 20 years ago, all plastic bottles were collected at a central recycling depot. Some people took their own bottles and were given the deposit back but mostly organisations collected them. In our village the Scouts came round the houses on a Saturday morning with the boys picking up bottles door to door. They took them to the depot and kept the cash – a great way of raising funds and you never saw a dumped plastic bottle anywhere. If one was discarded or even dropped in a bin, there was always someone who would pick it up or take it out to collect the deposit. A win-win situation.
ELIZABETH MACKIE, North Queensferry, Fife.
SCOTLAND needs a holistic, easy to access culture encouraging recycling and improving behaviour in regard to littering. Fortunately, with more than 80 per cent of households benefiting from kerbside collections, we have a system we can build upon. It is a system not found widely in countries that apply bottle fees. Infrastructure costs, disruption to household collections, reduction in council revenues, impact on small local shops and hygiene concerns are just some of the reasons why many European countries have rejected bottle fees. We have something that is working and growing in Scotland. Let us build on that rather than a new layer of bureaucracy, cost and inconvenience for consumers. CAMPBELL EVANS, Packaging Recycling Group Scotland, Edinburgh.
THE campaign to introduce a deposit return scheme (Mail) is well intentioned but if implemented would have negative consequences for convenience stores. Smaller local shops simply do not have the space to store the anticipated high levels of returned containers. The grocery retail market is hyper-competitive and smaller stores have had to maximise selling space simply to remain in business. This means storage space has been minimised with stock being controlled on a just-in-time basis. The reverse vending machines which form part of many deposit systems are expensive to install and maintain. There are more local convenience stores in Scotland per head of population than in the rest of the UK. These stores are vital assets to our communities but a deposit return scheme would threaten their viability. The most effective way to tackle litter is to invest in kerbside recycling. DR JOHN LEE, Head of Policy and Public Affairs, Scottish Grocers
Federation, Edinburgh.
AS an Englishman married to a Scot, I’ve lived and worked in Scotland for more than 35 years. I am often reminded by relatives, friends and even strangers of the beauty of Scotland’s scenery – its mountains and hills, its green fields, its classical architecture and beautiful cities and towns – and the warm welcome offered to visitors and tourists. Why, then, do proud Scots continue to throw rubbish all over their land?
JOHN HIGGINS, Alloway, Ayrshire.