But, the call has been met with opposition from packaging producers who claim that such schemes are an expensive option for consumers and businesses.
Previous efforts by the CPRE to campaign on the issue appeared to have gathered momentum when Prime Minister David Cameron had pledged to review the viability of bottle deposit and refund schemes in September 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story). But, hopes that this might lead to the development of a deposit scheme in the UK were dashed when the June 2011 Waste Review identified the very high running costs of deposit schemes as a barrier.
CPRE renewed its campaign yesterday (July 11), with the launch of the Deposit Alliance, which it says will provide a focus for the many groups, individuals and policy makers interested in the potential of a UK-wide deposit refund system for drinks containers.
Delegates at yesterdays launch event in London were given data from deposit scheme trials in Catalunya, Spain, as well as hearing from Iain Gulland, director of Zero Waste Scotland, who outlined the initial findings of a similar deposit pilot scheme established in Scotland in June 2012 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Support
The group told letsrecycle.com that although the measure does not appear to have the backing of government or drinks packaging producers, it hopes to develop an evidence based approach to reinforce its campaign.
Samantha Harding, CPREs Stop the Drop campaign manager, said: With millions of drinks containers made from finite resources sold every year in the UK, many of which end up as litter on land and at sea, we should do everything we can to capture them for recycling. We need people to know these containers are valuable, not to be freely discarded.
A small deposit on each container has been shown to work well in other countries, creating jobs and keeping our countryside, towns and seas cleaner why cant we do it here?
Response
Responding to the launch of the campaign, the Industry Council for Research on Packaging and the Environment (INCPEN), which represents packaging producers in the UK, claimed that encouraging use of the existing recycling system would provide better value to consumers and producers.
The organisation said that deposit schemes can be up to three times more expensive that collection of recyclables through the existing household packaging collection system in the UK, and can be open to fraud if the deposit fee is high.
INCPEN director Jane Bickerstaffe, said: We want to work with others to tackle all litter and promote recycling. Littering is the result of careless or thoughtless behaviour. The way to tackle litter is by education, cleaning and law enforcement. This is a far more effective way than a deposit scheme.
Encouraging use of existing kerbside and recycling collection schemes also makes good environmental and business sense.
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