A forthcoming deposit return scheme could save 31,000 plastic bottles from littering Scotland’s streets, according to new figures from Zero Waste Scotland.

Rick Hindley, Executive Director of Alupro, the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation, gets his teeth into the issues surrounding deposit return schemes and their impact on aluminium can recycling.

Zero Waste Scotland has released £500,000 of funding for projects that aim to tackle the blight of single-use plastic items in Scotland.

Defra’s response to the resources and waste consultations confirm that big changes will be on the cards for 2023, with a deposit return scheme, extended producer responsibility regime and consistency of collections all proposed for introduction by then.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has announced new joint business and government investment in R&D around new forms of packaging made from plants, wood chippings and food waste.

If targets in the Resources and Waste strategy are to be met, the government must provide adequate funding and allow local authorities to develop recycling strategies and collection systems that are appropriate for their communities, says the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee.

A panel of environmental experts in Scotland has recommended that a 20-25 pence charge should be placed on disposable coffee cups, a policy that the UK Government has previously rejected.

Resources Minister Therese Coffey said that there was “no threat to the sustainability of kerbside collections” from a deposit return scheme as she backed an ‘all-in’ model at an evidence session of Parliament’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

Environment Secretary Michael Gove has put his weight behind an ‘all-in’ DRS for drinks containers as part of a speech on the need to act on climate change, pollution and natural degradation.

The UK Plastics Pact has identified clear PET as the best option for rigid plastic packaging, in new guidance published today (16 July).