Deposit return scheme: 5-minute guide to consultation response

Step 1

Open the consultation

You’ll need to have the consultation open in a new tab but keep this guidance open as well.

This link opens the consultation page in a new tab.

Step 2

Click on ‘Introduction’

Questions 1 to 5

Scroll down to fill in your personal details and choose your privacy preferences in questions 1 to 5. We want you to answer as an individual so there’s no need to name the organisation that shared this guide with you.

Question 6

Given the context of the Covid-19 pandemic we are currently experiencing, do you support or oppose our proposals to implement a deposit return scheme for drinks containers in 2024?

Tick ‘Support’.

Suggested comments for text box:

There are many benefits of deposit return systems, and people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have already had to wait too long for it to start.

• I support the implementation of a deposit return system by 2023, and it must be during this government’s session as it was in the Conservative Party manifesto.
• I do not support delaying until 2024 because over 8 billion bottles and cans are wasted in the UK every year.
• As the government has recognised in this consultation, DRS will create up to 4000 new local, green jobs and a central admin centre could be located in an area of high unemployment anywhere in the country.
• Since Covid, I have spent more time in my local outdoor spaces. DRS will help protect those places by reducing litter. DRS is a key part of recovery and ‘Building back better’.
• We are living in a climate emergency and DRS is only a small part of the solution. If we have to wait so long for this, what hope do we have for the bigger changes we need to make?
• People are fed up of sorting their recycling but having no guarantee it won’t be dumped in another country or burnt. DRS guarantees effective recycling and restores faith in recycling systems.

Question 7

Do you believe the introduction of a deposit return scheme will have an impact on your everyday life?

Tick ‘No, there will be no impact’.

Although we believe that Deposit Return will have a positive impact on people’s lives, there’s no positive option to tick.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the ‘Continue’ button.

Step 3

Click on ‘Chapter 1: Scope of the Deposit Return Scheme’

Scroll down to the questions.

Question 10

Do you believe we have identified the correct pros and cons for the all-in and On-the-Go schemes described above?

Tick ‘No’.

We disagree with the entire concept of ‘on the go’ and believe they’ve misrepresented the pros and cons. You can see a list of them if you click on the blue arrow beside ‘Scope of a deposit return scheme’ on the consultation. Here’s some of our key points you may want to reiterate in the text box below question 10:

Suggested comments for text box:

• ‘On-the-go’ is a made up concept that doesn’t exist. It’s not possible to tell where someone will open a drink, and all sorts of drinks are currently littered and cause environmental and safety problems.
• On the go is meaningless to me – I use all different sizes of bottles and cans in and out of the home. I just want all sizes in.
• Deposit systems separate materials, which is more efficient for recycling, and it makes no sense to spend time and money setting up such a great system and then limit what’s included.
• What would happen to all the bottles and cans that aren’t included in on the go? Will they just continue to be burnt and thrown into the sea?
• There’s also a risk that producers will change the size of bottles and cans that they sell if only certain sizes are included in the system, as they have done in other countries.
• It makes no sense to exclude multipacks, and would create a risk of producers wrapping just two cans or bottles in plastic as a way to avoid being part of the system.

Question 11

Do you foresee any issues if the final scope of a deposit return scheme in England and Northern Ireland does not match the all-in decision taken in Wales? E.g. an On-the-Go scheme in England and an all-in scheme in Wales.

Tick ‘Yes’.

Suggested comments for text box:

The only viable option is to have an ‘all-in’ system that’s consistent across all four nations. I need to be able to buy and return a drink anywhere in the UK.

Question 12

Having read the rationale for either an all-in or On-the-Go scheme, which do you consider to be the best option for our deposit return scheme?

Tick ‘All-in’.

Suggested comments for text box:

The consultation guide states that the government is ‘neutral’ about the fact that ‘all-in’ would “provide a higher net benefit, leading to higher levels of recycling, increased litter reduction and greater carbon savings”.

How can the government not want a £5.8 billion a year boost to the economy and environment, or support a system that does more to tackle the climate emergency? Defra’s own assessments and information makes it clear that the only viable option is ‘all-in’.

Question 14

Do you agree with our proposed definition of an On-the-Go scheme (restricting the drinks containers in-scope to less than 750ml in size and excluding multipack containers)?

Tick ‘No’.

Suggested comments for text box:

• It’s impossible to define which drinks will be consumed at home, and which will be consumed ‘on the go’. I buy different sizes of drinks for all kinds of places and situations.
• In the UK bottles and cans are littered every single day. I can see for myself, just by walking around, that this includes all sizes of bottles and cans made from all materials including glass, metal and plastic.
• The fact that multi-packs are excluded, despite most of these containing smaller containers, shows this is a made-up definition.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and click ‘Continue’.

Step 4

Click on ‘Chapter 9: Implementation Timeline’

Scroll down to the questions.

Question 75

Do you have any comments on the delivery timeline for the deposit return scheme? Please pose any views on implementation steps missing from the above?

Suggested comments for text box:

Over 8 billion bottles and cans are wasted every year in the UK so there is no justification for delaying the start of the deposit return system again. Following the pandemic and the subsequent increase in litter, it’s needed even more urgently than before. A deposit return system is a core part of a green and fair recovery from the pandemic.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and click ‘Continue’.

Step 5

Submit your consultation response

Scroll to the bottom of the main consultation page and then click ‘Finish’.