Deposit Return Schemes - got the bottle?

As many will have seen, today saw a new policy statement on how Deposit Return Schemes (DPR) will work across the UK.?

Deposit Return Schemes are something that we’ve been working on for a number of years and it’s great to see some progress. With 31 billion single-use containers bought in the UK each year, it’s a staggering amount of material that can be recycled rather than finding its way into landfill or ending up as litter. The good news is that between 70-75% are already recycled, but with up to 1 in 4 not being recycled, that’s around 7.5 billion containers being missed every year!

These are high quality materials, and by directly collecting them, companies that make the containers get back the very materials they need to make new ones. This means that instead of the items going into your household recycling, they will be 'returned' through this new process."

The announcement today makes some really good recommendations,

·???????? introducing a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for drinks containers

·???????? introducing Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (packaging EPR)

·???????? improving the effectiveness and consistency of packaging materials collected for recycling in each administration

·???????? working with industry to support voluntary trials for reusable and refillable drinks containers

There will be three legally distinct deposit return schemes in the UK: one in England and Northern Ireland; one in Wales; and one in Scotland.

But it’s disappointing that the policy, with the exception of Wales, focusses only on plastic bottles, steel and aluminium cans. If, like me, you are old enough to remember the days of buying a 20p glass bottle of lemonade and then getting some money back for returning the empty bottle, not including glass the scheme seems a missed opportunity.

The good news is that the announcement today doesn’t rule out schemes including glass. In fact, Wales is planning to be the UK leader in this area and intends to include glass as part of the DRS scheme. Other nations already include glass in their DRS, many have done it for years. The scheme in Sweden is almost as old as me, dating back to 1984! So, we aren’t treading new ground here.

The UK Governments statement (https://www.mcsuk.org/news/uk-government-announces-step-forward-for-deposit-return-scheme/ ) on DRS suggests it’s too expensive to include glass, and that Wales is the outlier wanting to include it.

We met the new Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies, in Wales this week and his statement today hits the nail on the head

“The evidence on glass is clear. With?over 50 successful international examples of DRSs where the overwhelming majority include glass as standard. Not only should Wales not have to settle for less than the international best practice standard, but it is essential if we are to continue to make progress against our baseline and ensure the scheme will be effective in supporting the transition to net zero.”

Its little wonder Wales is amongst the top nations in the world for recycling, the question is when will the rest of the UK follow their lead? It makes sense for both the consumer and the environment.

Diolch yn fawr Cymru!