UK to Launch Deposit Return Scheme for Bottles and Cans

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The UK government has announced fresh proposals aimed at boosting the country’s waste recycling rates, which currently are well short of earlier set targets. These include introduction of tax on plastic packaging, deposit return scheme for cans and bottles among others. The interested parties will now have three months time to respond to the proposals.

The government has decided to introduce a new plastics tax from April 2022 onwards. The proposed tax will be applicable to import of all plastic packaging having less than 30% recycled content. The 12-week consultation period invites views on design of the tax scheme, how the tax system should be implemented and what packaging and businesses must be included in the tax regime.

The government has put forward two options in implementing the new national Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for bottles and cans. The first option, the ‘all-in’ model, would cover virtually all drinks beverages packaging, irrespective of size. According to the second option, the ‘on-the-go’ model, the scheme will cover only those drinks containers that are less than 750 ml in size and are sold in single format containers. It cited the huge success delivered by countries including Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands in terms of bottle return rates since introduction of similar schemes.

The recent government waste statistics suggest that the UK is expected to fall short of the 2020 EU waste recycling target.