Plastics firms will be forced to pay £1bn bill for recycling

MAKERS of single-use plastic packaging will be forced to pick up the £1billion bill for clearing it up under tough government plans.

In a victory for the Daily Mail, deposit return schemes for bottles will also be introduced across the UK over the next few years.

Unveiling the waste and resources strategy, Westminster Environment Secretary Michael Gove said it aims to ‘make the polluter pay’. The plan should help stop plastic pollution and change Britain into a country which ‘wastes less and re-uses, recycles and repairs more’.

The Scottish Government said it had been in discussions with Westminster over the plans.

Recycling rates across the UK have stagnated at around 44 per cent for the past five years. The UK Government wants to raise this to 70 per cent by 2030.

Businesses contribute only £73million towards recycling and disposal of the waste packaging they make. The total £1billion cost is shouldered by councils.

Manufacturers may also soon have to pay to deal with waste clothing and bed linen, construction waste, tyres and mattresses – items that often end up being flytipped, burned or sent to landfill.

Makers of electronic devices will also be encouraged to take back devices at the end of their life for recycling or repair. And consumers could be given rights to return appliances that break beyond the current six years.

A key measure is the UK-wide deposit return scheme, which will be launched by 2023 for plastic and glass bottles, cans and, possibly, coffee cups.

The Daily Mail has led calls for such a scheme to stop plastic endangering wildlife in our seas and littering cities and the countryside.

Consultation on the strategy will be held next year. It is intended to work UK-wide alongside a scheme to be introduced by the Scottish Government in 2020.

Around four billion plastic bottles, 2.7billion cans and 1.5billion glass bottles are not recycled annually, the report said.

The Scottish Government has committed to implementing a bottle deposit scheme, which is expected to be in place within the next two years. A spokesman said: ‘The current producer responsibility schemes operate across the UK by agreement with the devolved governments.

‘We have been engaged with the UK Government for a number of months on options for reform, and these discussions are ongoing.’