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Waste and Resources Strategy UK: Plastic bottle deposit scheme, plastic tax and recycling overhauls to be discussed in consultation

A consultation has been launched into Government plans to cut down on plastic waste and improve recycling in the Waste and Resources Strategy.

The Strategy, which includes plans for a Deposit Return Scheme for plastic bottles, is designed to make manufacturers more responsible for the plastic they produce.

The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs is now consulting on three main pints included in the strategy: Manufacturer responsibility for plastic, the deposit return scheme, a plastic tax and measures to make recycling more efficient.

A Deposit Return Scheme would encourage people to give back their plastic drinking bottles after use, to prevent them going into landfill.

As the consultation opened, anti-plastic campaigners said a change in the UK’s waste management is necessary, but they also expressed concerns about how far the Strategy will go.

Julian Kirby, plastic campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “A radical overhaul of waste strategy is urgently needed to deal with our waste crisis - but this must include bold targets to substantially cut the waste that squanders precious resources, blights our environment and harms our wildlife.

“A plastic tax should give firms a real incentive to use more recycled plastic in their products, leading to less waste and less pollution.

“But to be truly effective the tax must be regularly revised to periodically increase the proportion of recycled material that manufacturers use.”

Campaigners have stressed the need for a Deposit Return Scheme but have concerns about how far it will go.

A beach clean-up project organised by Surfers Against Sewage found that more than half of the 28,000 plastic bottles collected were 750ml or larger.

In light of the findings, they have called for a Deposit Return Scheme to include bottles of all sizes.

Mr Kirby from Friends of the Earth also said any scheme that is introduced “must cover all containers, not just small ones.”

You can give your views on the Waste and Resources Strategy on the DEFRA website. The consultation closes on May 12-13.