GOVT bottle & can deposit return scheme proposed

Tigsteroonie

I buy a 2l bottle of pop (or these days, a 1.75l or 1.5l bottle as they seem to be shrinking) because I don't want to drink 330ml at one sitting. Suggestions of ditching bottles in favour of cans are no good for me.

The_Green_Hornet

Mojisola wrote: »

Consumers have a lot of power - if shoppers switched to the companies that decide to offer a refund on the bottles, others will follow.

That well may be true, and I really do hope that the supermarkets offer a returns/refund system when they deliver your groceries, but it will be at a cost to the consumer as I'm pretty sure that the billions of pounds they are going to be spending on setting up, and maintaining, DRS won't come out of their profits.

And what does DRS really hope to achieve? It certainly doesn't reduce the volume of single use packaging being used, it just reduces the amount of it that gets discarded as litter. A win yes, but a small costly one in my opinion.

The_Green_Hornet

Martyn1981 wrote: »

I've got to say I'd have thought this was a no-brainer. When groceries are dropped off the delivery man/woman would accept and credit the returns.

It may be an assumption on my behalf, but it seems like a natural and reasonable one.

I honestly do hope that they would offer that service but in my experience, when the government and big business get together, common sense solutions don't always follow.

Batman2017

I've thought about this and have wondered whether its worth keeping hold of my plastic bottles and cans until this is brought in. I put numerous bottles in the recycling bin each week. If this waste suddenly has value to then why would you throw money away?

The amount of bottles and cans that gets put into waste bins at my workplace could soon become a thing of the past. Could I cash in now by saving these products from the landfill(my workplace has no recycling bins)

Devon_Scrooge

I am as dismayed as most responsible citizens about the amount of plastics in our Oceans but I don't agree with the scheme and don't believe it will solve anything.
1) Scientists say that approx 49% of the plastic waste in our Oceans is discarded plastic & nylon from the Fishing industries - Old nets etc. not plastic bottles. Microbeads from cosmetics are another big problem as the small particles are easily ingested by Ocean creatures.
2) We have 2 collections from the local council - general refuse, & recyclables including Glass, Plastics and Steel/Alloy cans within which we recycle all we can. Collections for both are fortnightly and our recycle bin usually contains twice the volume of our general waste on collection day.
3) Taking Bottles & Plastics back is going to mean storing them before return and then transporting them (by car) if convenient. I work nights & quite often decide to pop into our local 24hr stores for any shopping we need after work, often at 3-4am, so to return these bottles I would have to store them in the car. Not convenient, when normally I would just be sure to place them in our recycle bin after use.
4) As far as I know, the recycled items (Plastic, Glass, Steel & Alloy cans) are sold by our council to help cover the costs of recycling & refuse collection so taking these bottles & cans elsewhere would be depriving the council of income which could lead to reduced collections and council tax increases.
5) All of our waste & recylables as collected by the council are either taken to be sorted for recycling, or incinerated or sent to landfill in the case of waste, so I don't see how this scheme will prevent anything entering the Oceans.
6) This scheme might deter Kids and families who currently litter or don't recycle, from just dropping stuff in the street, but for those of us who do conscienciously recycle, it will make no difference except for being an inconvience. Those who do not currently recycle ( And I know a few with more money than sense) will not change their ways for the sake of a 10p or 20p refund.
I can't see this working or making much difference to the Oceans & for the reasons above, I hope it does not get implemented.