Deposit Return Scheme put on back burner

With the UK gearing up for an important year in climate and nature – with the UN’s Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP 15) in May and hosting the COP26 annual climate change summit in November 2021 – the further delay of the Environment Bill isn’t a good look.

This news has a knock-on effect on the introduction of England’s own Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), which is one of the vital provisions of the bill.

DRS is a simple system where you pay a small deposit for your drinks can or bottle and when finished you can simply return it and get your money back. It helps the drive towards a more circular economy where materials are not lost from the system but used again and again, reducing littering overall. Scotland has passed legislation which means from July 2022 drinks containers will have a 20p deposit. In England, although repeated commitments from the governments to introduce a DRS have been made, it has been continually delayed.

We want schemes which cover all materials and all sizes, like the scheme due to start in Scotland which covers plastic and glass bottles and metal cans. We want to minimise any differences to the scheme already introduced in Scotland for ease of the consumer and to ensure the highest success of reducing littered bottles and cans in our ocean.

The government has promised to ‘continue at pace’ to implement the Bill’s measures despite the delay, and we will be holding them to account on this. We need the government to step up and take bold action to stop plastic waste from entering the ocean and the implementation of an all-inclusive DRS is a vital part of the solution.

What can you do?

• Keep up to date with DRS progress by signing up to our e-newsletter
• For updates on Scotland’s incoming DRS, follow the Have You Got The Bottle? campaign, of which the Marine Conservation Society is a founding member.
• Read the our reports on DRS