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The Government is undertaking further research as it considers introducing a plastic bottle deposit scheme in a bid to reduce littering and the quantity of plastic waste entering our seas and oceans.
The Government is undertaking further research as it considers introducing a plastic bottle deposit scheme in a bid to reduce littering and the quantity of plastic waste entering our seas and oceans. Television nature programs such as Blue Planet 2 have shown the stark reality of the scale of the problem of plastic waste to viewers. The introduction of a 5p levy on plastic shopping bags has reduced their use significantly and now the Environment Secretary Michael Gove is considering whether a bottle deposit scheme in which consumers pay a small charge on plastic bottles redeemable when returned, could have the same effect on plastic bottles. Glass bottles and aluminium cans could also be included in the scheme.
Currently the UK recycles just 57% of bottles, mainly from local council street side collections. On a global scale it is estimated that 8 million tonnes of plastic finds its way in to the planet’s oceans each year, of which 80% comes off land. Add to this forecasts by groups such as the World Wildlife Fund which see the UK’s own plastic waste production increasing by 20% and the pressures to act become hard to ignore. It is believed a bottle deposit return scheme could see collection rates rise to 85% and littering fall by 70%.
The additional levy on a plastic bottle deposit scheme could be between 10p and 20p an item and it will then be down to the public to accept. Scotland is already in the process of introducing its own bottle deposit scheme while countries including Germany, Norway, Denmark and the US already have them in place. Countries with these schemes in place report recycling rates of over 90% with this increasing to 95% in Germany suggesting that if the public gets behind it there is every chance it can work, similar to plastic shopping bags.
With shopping bags it was perhaps not so much the 5p charge as the increased awareness it brought to the issue of plastic waste and the public not wanting to be a contributor to the problem. This could also happen with plastic bottles, but the scheme would have to be introduced across all shops and all parts of the country to make people think their effort was meaningful. At this stage it is still a review, no decision has been made. Yet the pressure to act is gradually building.
