Britain plans deposit return scheme to curb plastic waste

 

FILE PHOTO: A pedestrian throws a discarded item into a bag containing paper cups alongside other rubbish on the Southbank, in London, Britain January 6, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

 

(Reuters) - Britain plans this year to introduce a deposit return scheme for single-use drink containers to increase recycling rates and slash the amount of waste littering the land and sea, the government said.

 

In deposit return schemes - which already operate in Denmark, Sweden and Germany - consumers pay a deposit when they buy a drink which they redeem once the container is returned.

 

British consumers get through about 13 billion plastic drink bottles a year but more than three billion are either incinerated, sent to a landfill or left to pollute streets, the countryside and marine environment, the government said.

 

"We can be in no doubt that plastic is wreaking havoc on our marine environment – killing dolphins, choking turtles and degrading our most precious habitats," environment minister Michael Gove said in a statement.

 

"It is absolutely vital we act now to tackle this threat and curb the millions of plastic bottles a day that go unrecycled," he said, adding that implementation of the scheme in England would be subject to consultations later this year.

 

The consultations will focus on the details of how the scheme will work along with other measures to increase recycling rates.

 

A possible alternative to the deposit return scheme is cash rewards for returning drink containers, the government said.

 

This is often executed by a network of 'reverse vending machines' through which a plastic or glass bottle can be inserted into one and the machine returns money.

 

Britain has managed to slash the use of plastic bags since 2015 by charging 5 pence for each bag.

 

(Reporting by Shalini Nagarajan in Bengaluru; Editing by Gareth Jones and Sandra Maler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-03-28

Maybe they should implement this scheme here in Thailand, especially Pattaya might clean the place up a bit.

I remember as a kid in the 1970's
England had a return scheme on glass bottles..you could ask the "dustmen" to take away your old fridge...or wait for the "rag and bone" man to take away most anything needing disposal.

Now you're lucky if the council provide a yearly skip for residents unwanted "stuff"
or you need a car to take it to the "recycling" center....but not more than twice per month and if you turn up in a van they most likely turn you away saying its commercial waste.

If you want people to "recycle" make it easier for them to do it not harder.

29 minutes ago, johng said:

If you want people to "recycle" make it easier for them to do it not harder.

Indeed. Just before I moved out here in 2008 I received information from my local council (RB Kingston upon Thames) about a "wonderful" new recycling scheme which entailed placing recyclable rubbish into 1 of a whole array of bins, depending on its type. And woe betide you if you had placed a particular item in the wrong bin! Thankfully for me this scheme only came into force after I had moved out to LOS.

 

Contrast this with the straightfoward recycling arrangements for my sister's apartment block in Paris - which consists of 1 communal bin for glass, another for all other recyclable items regardless of type and a third for general non-recyclable rubbish. 

Edited March 28, 20188 yr by OJAS

Deposot schemes dont work as mist people cant be bothered. By all means charge companies a surcharge for packaging use as a tax and use it to pay people for waste returned for recycling. You will then have people collecting discarded materials by those who can't be bothered. Common sense isn't it?

12 minutes ago, timewilltell said:

Deposot schemes dont work as mist people cant be bothered. By all means charge companies a surcharge for packaging use as a tax and use it to pay people for waste returned for recycling. You will then have people collecting discarded materials by those who can't be bothered. Common sense isn't it?

Exactly you will only get 50% doing it

In Auss they no doubt put the price of the products up to pay for those stupid machines you have to put the cans & bottles into. 

Mind you they have to be perfect (just like when you bought them, & inserted one by one ), when it is your turn in the line out in the sun

Auss also has recycle bins at their homes

 

It would be better to have weigh in drop of points, stating number of cans/bottles

In Thailand it all has value. The garbage guys pick up twice a week at the condo I stay. They sort the rubbish and recyclables as it goes into the truck. To make things easier (and less disgusting) most tenants/owners sort it

into separate bags before placing the bags in the bins.