LEADING environmental campaigners have today urged Labour to prioritise plans to boost recycling through introducing a comprehensive deposit return scheme.
Speaking at a Nature 2030 and Keep Wales Tidy Parliamentary event with environmental leaders, Liberal Democrat peer Cathy Bakewell said it was “essential” the deposit return scheme was in place by 2026.
Deposit return schemes operate in more than 40 countries and see a small charge applied to everyday beverage containers which is refunded when the item is recycled in a bottle bank.
Plans for a deposit return scheme under the previous Conservative government were widely criticised by environmental campaigners after scheme’s introduction was delayed until late 2027.
In April 2024, ministers confirmed their intention to exclude glass from the scheme, but critics argue this stance puts the UK out of step with the rest of Europe and dampens our climate ambitions.
The Scottish and Welsh governments had initially set out to include glass within their schemes and Labour ministers are understood to be reviewing the actions of previous ministers.
Campaigners say more than two million pieces of litter are dropped every day in the UK, costing taxpayers more than £1 billion annually to clean up.
They argue the only way to ensure adequate protections for the environment and wildlife is to adopt a wide-ranging deposit return scheme that includes glass and plastic bottles alongside metal cans.
Retailers and manufacturers have echoed these calls, urging for the policy to be implemented by 2027 in order to ensure the UK’s national net zero ambitions are met.
Research from MPs and Keep Britain Tidy has found more than three-quarters (76 per cent) of the British public believe glass should be included in the proposed recycling initiative.
Baroness Natalie Bennett, Green peer, said:
“We are chocking our own health as a result of poor recycling rates and creating a radical circular economy is needed to tackle it.
“We’re heading in the wrong direction with more plastic being created than there is demand for plastic.”
Baroness Cathy Bakewell, Liberal Democrats House of Lords DEFRA Spokesperson, said:
“Recycling was in every part of the main party manifestos. It therefore should be easy to get consensus across Parliament.
“Businesses are briefing that various elements of the Government’s current approach do not fit what they want. It is essential that the deposit return scheme is in place by 2027.”
Owen Derbyshire, Chief Executive of Keep Wales Tidy, said:
“To tackle the waste crisis, we need ultimately need strength and certainty from Government. Labour has the clear opportunity with its historic majority to fix the mess we have been left by the previous government on DRS. Both the environment and industry can no longer afford further delays and disruption to a scheme that should have come in years ago.
“With building a circular economy as one of Defra’s stated priorities, I urge the Secretary of State Steve Reed MP, to work with the devolved administrations to implement a DRS with plastic, glass and metal containers included in 2027 – we must get back on track in delivering a circular economy, Labour must deliver an effective deposit return scheme.”