The Plastic Bottle Deposit Scheme may be Doomed

And a Solution which Businesses Can Deliver

Would you be happy to pay 10p or even 20p extra for every bottle of pop you buy?

The suggested plastic bottle deposit scheme would impose that fee on every disposable drinks bottle purchased.

The Government’s recent indication that it will not be pushing forward with this plastic bottle deposit scheme has been met with condemnation from some environmental groups. But I’m not sure that I entirely agree with them. Coca Cola initially said they do not back the scheme but have now indicated that they will be involved with the trials in Scotland.

For the purposes of this post, let’s consider two clear areas in terms of generation of used plastic bottles. One is the workplace and the other is at home and leisure.

There’s no question that current recycling rates and processes are woefully inadequate. The numbers of bottles littered around kerbsides, parks and verges is testament to this. The plastic bottle deposit scheme is one which has been muted as a potential solution.

It has been suggested that 9 out of 10 people would recycle more if it was made easy. The problem with this scheme is that it doesn’t make it easy for the consumer. Additionally, it has the potential to fragment the collection service causing a greater carbon footprint, by encouraging people to make short journeys to recycling units.

Before moving onto the issues of this post, here are some useful soundbites to put you in the picture of our UK consumption.

Some Staggering Facts!

• Up to a third of UK residents use bottled water at home. WOW!
• More than one in five 4-to-18 year-olds drink mainly bottled water.

Recent studies show that we each use 170 plastic bottles of water every year. For a family of four, that’s 680 bottles.

Some More Staggering Facts!

• 275,000 tonnes of plastic are used each year in the UK, that's about 15 million bottles per day.
• Most families throw away about 40kg of plastic per year, which could otherwise be recycled.
• The use of plastic in Western Europe is growing about 4% each year.
• Plastic can take up to 500 years to decompose.

With this insight into the scale of the problem, why wouldn’t a deposit return scheme be the answer?

Why 5p Bags are Good but 10p Bottles are Bad

There is fundamental difference between the charge for plastic bags and the proposed charge on plastic bottles, which is this:

• The plastic bag charge was brought in as an incentive to reduce the number of bags used and encourage re-usable bags. It has been widely successful. In England last year an estimated 83% reduction in plastic bags from 7.4 billion to 640 million (up to July). Tesco own figures reflected this with an 80% drop in plastic bag used.
• The plastic bottle charge is not intended to encourage behaviour change in consumers. Nothing I have read suggests that we as a society will consume less bottled drinks – If that result occurs, the dentist will be ecstatic. However, the proposal is a suggested fix for the shortcomings of the collection and reprocessing strategy.
• Unlike the plastic bag charge, there is no easy alternative for plastic bottles for fizzy drinks. It’s true that more people could take a re-usable bottle with them for water. However, this behaviour change is not what is being encouraged.

Once someone has invested 10p on a higher quality re-usable plastic bag, it can be used repeatedly, saving the consumer many times over. This is not the case with 10p on a bottle.

By rewarding people for returning their empty bottles, a sense of wellbeing will be stimulated, thus encouraging people (especially children) to use more. The ultimate goal of encouraging people to reduce single use plastic consumption is entirely lost.

On the other hand, the system could work well in the workplace, where drinks alternatives are not readily provided. As an aside, a simple substitute could be the provision of water jugs and glasses.

Remove a Waste Stream

From a business point of view, removing the waste stream by installing a plastic bottle repayment facility could reduce general waste, creating a cost saving to the company. That’s provided that the unit fitted is either free of charge or costs less than the equivalent refuse collection.

For the domestic consumer, this does become a tax on the poorer in society. Higher income households reportedly drink less sugary drinks. So it follows that lower income households buy more, they have to pay out more upfront. If they fail to recycle, they ultimately fund a scheme which fails to deliver.

Investment Matters

The thinking around society’s waste issues should be holistic and this scheme is piecemeal as it only works for one plastic waste stream. Universal collection for all domestic plastic waste and sorting at MRFs (materials recovery facilities) makes much more sense. Sorting technologies exist and eliminate the problem of contamination with the wrong type of plastic when the public makes unintentional mistakes.

With the domestic user still in mind, my contention is that sorting will still be necessary if the deposit scheme is implemented. So why not develop the existing collection system rather than duplicate the effort, physical resources and expense?

By including bottles and their lids in kerbside collection, whilst improving collection facilities in the workplace and leisure spaces enhanced processes will be developed. Thus the reprocessing facilities will be able to reach critical mass for all groups of plastic. A centrally developed joined up strategy for waste is required, rather than the current fragmented approach by devolving to Local Authorities or dealing with each waste stream in isolation.

Successful Schemes

In continental Europe similar schemes to the one being tested in Scotland have achieve fairly high success rates in Germany, Sweden reaching 80-90% and Norway 75-90% recovery. These schemes have been in place since 1994. Interestingly, this data is from the Zero Waste website and it appears that these results have plateaued without reaching the goal of complete retrieval.

As the UK does not have this system and technologies have surpassed those which were available when the continental schemes were set up, there is an opportunity to address the issue differently.

Realistically, total recapture is highly unlikely. This is demonstrated by years of public awareness campaigns and changes in legislation, vastly reducing, but not eradicating drink-driving, which is generally viewed as socially unacceptable. However, we should ask whether we are satisfied with the 75-90% recovery model that deposit return scheme offers after being in place for over 20 years.

Waste can frequently be turned into a resource, generating businesses revenue, as opposed to causing a cost. Call (0113) 289 2208 or email me today at [email protected] and we can start taking about how easy it is to take charge of your environmental impact.