Help us end continual delays to plastic reducing policy

In 2019 the UK Government committed to an ‘all-in’ Deposit Return Scheme to be delivered in the seemingly distant 2023. Five years on, all four Governments in the UK have announced a delay to the scheme until 2027, and finally released their plan as to how they are going to deliver them. Having been campaigning for a DRS for 10 years, it is about time Governments across the UK got on with it.

Deposit Returns Schemes are not a novel idea, they are currently in place in over 60 countries around the world with many more expected to follow in the next few years. One of the most recent countries to put a scheme in place is Ireland who collected 2 million bottles within the first 2 months of its operation.

We hope that the commitment made by the four Governments is the beginning of the end to the wait for the delivery of a similar scheme for people in the UK. But we know we need to keep the pressure on. With a strong lobby against the scheme pushing for further delays, we regularly hear from the people profiting from the pollution a DRS would prevent that they don’t want a scheme – surprising? Not really.

It is this vocal lobby that pushed the UK Government to omit including glass in their scheme, forcing Scotland and Northern Ireland to follow suit. Despite the disappointing back step from the majority of the UK’s governments, we were heartened to hear plans from the Welsh Government that they will continue with their plans to include the carbon intensive material in their scheme.

To hear more about their plans, we went to the Senedd. At Welsh Parliament, we spoke to Wales’ Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies and heard from speakers championing the importance of a DRS for reducing plastic pollution. Speakers included our very own Sian Sykes, SAS Rep and Plastic Free Anglesey Lead who circumnavigated Wales on a paddle board to campaign against the plastic that enters rivers and seas on a daily basis.

We know that a DRS will encourage a better system for recycling drinks containers, one of the products most polluting areas cleaned by volunteers. That’s why we will continue to keep the pressure on Governments across the UK to finally take a stand and deliver the scheme people across the UK have been calling for years.

So what about the companies pumping out all the plastic?

We know from SAS brand audits that the large proportion of plastic packaging we find on our beaches, streets and waterways, are from a small number large producers. With the 3 top polluters being responsible for 37% of rubbish found.

Extended Producer Responsibility would put the onus on producers to take responsibility for WHOLE life span of a plastic product. It would cover everything from a coffee cup, to plastic wrapping on your fruit and veg.

Producers would pay a fee, a plastic tax, based on the volume and material they produce. This money would go to local authorities to improve recycling facilities and help pay for it’s clean up.

The fee would also encourage producers to move away from unnecessary packaging, take responsibility for the waste it creates, This would incentivise producers to shift towards less virgin plastics, more reusable and refillable packaging. A big first step towards a circular economy.

It’s a familiar story, and despite promises we are now looking at more delays. It was meant to be phased in 2023, but now producers have been told not to expect to pay anything into scheme until 2025. We are still concerned that following the general election, the scheme could be scrapped altogether.

The 2024 election is THE time to show all candidates we want no more delays.

So what do we do about it?

Make some noise!

#DRSNOW #ENDPLASTICPOLLUTION

1. Share our ‘Swimming in Plastic’ video and use the hashtags #drsnow, #endplasticpollution and #surfersagainstsewage. You could copy in your local candidates to ask them what they are doing to tackle plastic pollution.
2. You could write to them why you are concerned about plastic, how you think it impacts you in your local community and asking them to take action by ensuring DRS & EPR is implemented
3. Join SAS local hustings and ask candidates questions about DRS & EPR

How you talk to local candidates about your local plastic pollution issues is up to you, but our message across the UK is clear…

We care, we are sick of plastic pollution, and we want action NOW.