'No more delays' plea as DRS report published

We are pleased to announce that the Tidy Britain APPG has published an in-depth report into deposit return scheme plans (DRS).

The report contains public perception on many aspects of deposit return schemes (DRS) and their impact on people and the environment, and accompanying policy recommendations.

It has been compiled by Keep Britain Tidy, who provide the secretariat for the APPG. Special thanks are owed to the Tidy Britain APPG chair, Kim Leadbeater MP, and her team for the vital work they have put into campaigning on litter and waste.

In April 2023, Keep Britain Tidy commissioned YouGov to survey a sample of the UK population in order to better understand the levels of awareness, comprehension and support relating to various aspects of deposit return schemes.

The polling revealed that:

• Three-quarters of people (76%) believe that glass should be included in DRS, the highest percentage, ahead of plastic (75%) and aluminium (69%)
• Awareness of DRS is low - just 30% had heard of DRS and answered that they knew what it was
• But when DRS was explained, 66% supported it. This rises to 69% for 2019 Conservative voters, 72% for Labour voters, and 76% for Liberal Democrat voters.

We are also making the following policy recommendations:

• First, any proposed deposit return scheme must include glass to create a level playing field for materials and to stop the littering of glass bottles that present a danger to people, pets and wildlife and can act as a magnifier, causing grass and moorland fires.
• Secondly, the deposit level should be set at 20p to facilitate interoperability with the Scottish scheme.
• There can also be no more delay to the scheme, which is currently scheduled to come in a full seven years after it was first announced. Since March 2018, when the UK Government announced that it would bring in a deposit return scheme on drinks an estimated 18 billion plastic bottles, ten billion aluminium cans and eight billion glass bottles have been landfilled, incinerated or littered across the UK – resources that have been lost from the economy.

With more than 20 million empty drinks containers wasted in the UK every day, ensuring a comprehensive Deposit Return Scheme is rolled out across the UK in a timely and consistent way, as promised in the Conservative manifesto in 2019, remains a top priority for Keep Britain Tidy.   

Evidence from more than 40 other countries and regions around the world show collection rates for drink containers increase to well above 90%, capturing valuable material for recycling and preventing them from littering our streets and polluting our waterways and, ultimately, our oceans.

As part of our work on DRS, we are committed to engaging policy makers on the issues, championing for a best practice scheme.