MPs consider action to beat bottles blight
MPS are to investigate the ‘environmental catastrophe’ of litter blight and the need for a plastic bottle deposit scheme.
The landmark inquiry will also examine how to solve the problem of millions of throwaway coffee cups that are dumped rather than recycled.
The move by MPs from all parties on the Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) is part of a wider attack on a throwaway society that is turning streets into rubbish dumps.
It comes as the Scottish Government faces mounting pressure to introduce a trial deposit-return scheme (DRS) after the Scottish Daily Mail launched a campaign last month backing the proposal. This newspaper believes a DRS would help to tackle the blight caused by 130,000 plastic bottles and cans dumped on Scotland’s streets and public places every day.
The proposals have gained cross-party support at Holyrood, with a motion calling for a ‘prompt decision’, while drinks manufacturers have also signalled a softening in their opposition to the idea. Last month two of Scotland’s biggest drinks brands – AG Barr, the firm behind Irn-Bru, and mineral water giant Highland Spring – declared they are open to considering a DRS. It came a day after Coca-Cola, the world’s biggest drinks firm, revealed it supports a pilot scheme.
Recycling efforts have stalled, with the result that bottles, along with cans, coffee cups and other litter are scarring towns, parks, rivers and beaches.
By contrast, recycling rates in Germany and Scandinavia, which have bottle deposits, are running at up to 98 per cent.
Chairman of the EAC, Mary Creagh MP, said plastic bottle waste was contributing to an ‘environmental catastrophe’.
She added: ‘Our committee will be looking at solutions like deposit schemes to see if they stand up. And we will be calling drinks companies in to Parliament to explain what they are doing to reduce waste, boost recycling and rescue our oceans.
‘If Government and industry listen, together we can turn back the tide of plastic choking our seas.’
The UK Government is working on a Litter Strategy that will include much higher fines for those who drop bottles and other rubbish. A first draft of the strategy did not include a single line on the possibility of DRS. However, ministers are reconsidering their scepticism about the idea following the Mail campaign.
Green campaigners argue the next logical step is to deal with plastic bottle blight by introducing a scheme charging a deposit of 10p-20p.
Willie Mackenzie of Greenpeace UK said: ‘To protect our oceans, we need to move away from the era of throwaway plastic that is blighting our environment.’
Marine Conservation Society spokesman Catherine Gemmell said: ‘We are seeing far too many of these throw-away items on beaches. A DRS is an obvious option.’
David Palmer-Jones of waste collection firm Suez said: ‘Investing in a UK-wide DRS for plastic bottles makes not just environmental sense but economic sense too. It puts pounds in the pockets of both households and business through reduced waste disposal costs and reduced need to buy virgin raw materials.’