Keep Britain Tidy urges full support for deposit return scheme implementation

The UK government has laid out plans to move forward with a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for England and Northern Ireland, a measure strongly supported by the environmental organisation Keep Britain Tidy. The regulations, introduced in Parliament by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) on 25 November 2024, reaffirm the government’s commitment to rolling out the scheme by 2027.

The DRS is seen as a crucial step toward reducing waste, particularly the estimated eight billion drinks containers currently buried, burned, or littered in the UK annually. By incentivising the return of beverage containers, similar schemes globally have achieved recycling rates as high as 98%, a stark contrast to the UK’s current rate of 70%.

Public opinion appears to strongly favour the initiative. A May 2024 survey conducted by TOMRA and The Diffley Partnership, in collaboration with Survation, found that 75% of respondents across the UK supported the introduction of a DRS, while only 6% opposed it. The same survey revealed that 85% of people perceive litter as a significant issue in their local areas.

Keep Britain Tidy joined forces with several other environmental organisations, including the Marine Conservation Society, Reloop, and Trash Free Trails, to express unified support for implementing the DRS. In a joint statement, these groups urged policymakers to push forward with the scheme despite Wales opting to establish a separate DRS tailored to its own needs. Deirdre Costigan MP, chair of the Tidy Britain All-Party Parliamentary Group, also lent her voice to the calls for swift action.

Keep Britain Tidy’s Chief Executive, Allison Ogden-Newton OBE, said: The environment cannot afford further delays.

Drinks containers make up more than half of the litter that’s out in the environment and in our communities. Every day, 22 million bottles are ‘lost’ from the recycling loop to litter, landfill or incineration. This is not acceptable and in DRS we have a policy that can make a real difference, reducing littering of cans and bottles by up to 85%. We stand fully behind Environment Secretary Steve Reed and Defra on the implementation of a Deposit Return Scheme as soon as possible.

It is mortifying and disappointing – although not entirely surprising – to read headlines that suggest that further delay to the scheme would be beneficial. For the sake of the environment, we all need to work together and put our full support behind the scheme.

Explore the full press release, including quotes from other organisations, by clicking here.