The poll was commissioned by campaign group Nature 2030.
Whitehall sparked outrage amongst environmental campaigners last year when it revealed glass bottles would be excluded from the scheme in England and Northern Ireland.
In contrast schemes planned for Wales and Scotland are set to include glass.
Polling conducted by Yonder found three quarters of Britons wish to see glass included in a future deposit return scheme in all four nations of the UK.
Yonder polled 2076 members of the UK public aged 18 and over between 16 – 18 December 2022.
In the UK more than 30 percent of glass is not recycled.
The 2019 Conservative Party manifesto committed to introduce a deposit return scheme to incentivise people to recycle plastic, glass bottles and aluminium cans.
In March the Government decided to include glass under wider extended producer responsibility (EPR) measures, removing it’s inclusion from a deposit return scheme. A consultation by Defra on the introduction of a deposit return schemes across the UK concluded in June 2021 with findings of this consultation yet to be published.
Campaigners believe an ‘all-in’ scheme with a variable deposit is key to tackling Britain’s waste crisis. They argue a comprehensive scheme capturing as many materials as possible will be easier for consumers to understand and is the most effective model for reducing waste.
In November this year the UK Government published bin litter guidance revealing glass bottle producers may be excluded from the statutory responsibility to cover the cost of cleaning up their containers when they are littered in the environment.
Of those polled, 64 percent agreed the government must urgently ensure glass bottle producers bear all costs relating to the discarding of their containers in the environment.
During a parliamentary debate on the topic in May, Philip Hollobone, Conservative MP for Kettering, said: “The omission of glass represents a real and serious threat to the effectiveness with which a DRS in England and Northern Ireland can realistically be delivered.
“Quite simply, its exclusion would be a catastrophe for our natural spaces as we all look to stem the tide of drinks container pollution.”
“It is the direct betrayal of a promise made by the Conservative Party to voters at the last general election, when we said in the manifesto that we would introduce a DRS for both plastic and glass drinks containers.”
A Plastic Planet co-founder Sian Sutherland said: “The UK needs to radically reduce its dependence on natural resources across the entire economy. We can’t possibly begin to do that by disincentivising consumers recycling what would otherwise be perfectly recyclable containers like glass bottles.
“We urgently need an all-in deposit return scheme across all four nations of the UK. If we are to radically reduce our dependence on natural resources we need urgent systems change that go beyond mere lip service. That means dealing first with the UK’s chronically low levels of glass recycling.”
