News • Climate Change and Nature
Tesco to pilot returning bottles in bid to reduce plastic
The UK’s largest supermarket is to trial a deposit return scheme as part of their plans to reduce plastic pollution. The Marine Conservation Society are ‘delighted’ by Tesco’s announcement and hope that Theresa May will take note.
Tesco has joined Iceland and the Co-op in supporting the deposit return scheme (DRS). It is working with suppliers to look at how the scheme could work on a large scale.
In a deposit scheme you buy the contents of a bottle, but only borrow the bottle – similar to milk bottle collection or the old Irn-Bru bottle scheme.
Several Sustain members, including the Marine Conservation Society, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, and Keep Britain Tidy are instrumental in the campaign to introduce DRS.
Clare Fischer from The Marine Conservation Society say they are “delighted to see Tesco throwing its weight behind a deposit refund scheme.” However, The MCS are disappointed with the lack of support from the Government: “At the launch of her 25-year environment plan, Theresa May said the Government was looking at the best ways to tackle the issue of bottles. But when quizzed on deposit return schemes she said: ‘We want to look at the evidence of what works.’”
Published Monday 15 January 2018
Climate Change and Nature: Sustain has taken a keen interest in the rapidly accumulating evidence about the effect of food and farming on climate change and nature, as scientific evidence emerges that our food system is a very significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss.
