‘The environment cannot wait another day’ says charity chief as drinks industry and environmental charities call on Prime Minister to keep ‘circular economy’ manifesto promise

Keep Britain Tidy, supported by environmental organisations, manufacturers and retailers, has written to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer urging him to work with the rest of the UK governments on urgently bringing in a deposit return scheme (DRS) to protect the environment from littered drinks packaging and dramatically increase recycling rates. 

The signatories include major soft drinks producers Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Suntory, the British Soft Drinks Association, a raft of environmental organisations including WWF, Surfers Against Sewage and the Marine Conservation Society and trade body the Federation of Independent Retailers – and collectively reiterates unwavering support for the government’s implementation of DRS, which has undergone extensive development within Defra.   

Research from circular economy non-profit Reloop shows that currently more than 20 million drinks containers are incinerated, sent to landfill or littered each day. Keep Britain Tidy’s research shows more than 75% of litter by volume is the result of drinks consumption with more than eight billion containers wasted every year. 

The previous government set a target of reaching net zero by 2050 – a target that is supported by 72% of the public – but the charity believes this will require stagnant recycling rates to increase significantly.  

Keep Britain Tidy says the most effective way of achieving this ambition is through the introduction of a DRS, which will provide the infrastructure to help significantly increase recycling rates at no cost to the taxpayer. 

Keep Britain Tidy’s Chief Executive, Allison Ogden-Newton OBE said: “The environmental case of a DRS is clear. The foundations are laid for the policy and our new government has a fantastic opportunity to bring this to fruition. Every day, more than 20 million drinks containers are ‘lost from the loop’ – either sent to landfill, incinerated or littered.  

“Our message to Sir Keir is clear; the environment cannot wait another day.  

“We believe the economic case for this industry-funded scheme is clear too – the cost for establishing and running the scheme will be met by drinks producers, not the taxpayer, and will eventually create up to 4,000 green jobs in the collection and sorting of materials. 

“A deposit return scheme will provide the high-quality recycling needed to help the UK move towards a long-overdue circular economy for drinks packaging.” 

The government estimates that deposits will drive down littering of these items by 85%, removing them from the environment and returning them to producers to make new products. 

Previous polling carried out by YouGov on behalf of Keep Britain Tidy showed that two-thirds of the public support the introduction of a DRS scheme. 

More than 40 countries have already successfully implemented a DRS with the best designed seeing return rates of up to 98% as a result. 

You can read the letter here.