LARAC – the Local Authority Recycling Advisory Committee – has warned against the introduction of a ‘deposit return’ style incentive scheme for plastic bottles, which it claims could make council recycling services less efficient.
The comments came in a formal submission to the Environmental Audit Committee’s inquiry on plastic bottles and single-use coffee cups, which was launched last month.
Plastic bottles baled for recycling
The probe, which is being led by the Committee’s chair, the Labour MP for Wakefield Mary Creagh, will also examine the potential for the introduction of a deposit return scheme to increase the capture of plastic bottles (see letsrecycle.com story).
Support for deposit return schemes is gaining momentum, with the government yesterday having pledged to establish a working group to look at different voluntary or regulatory options to improve recycling and reuse of packaging as part of the Litter Strategy for England, having previously expressed reluctance to pursue the policy (see letsrecycle.com story). Ministers will ask the group to consider the advantages and disadvantages of different types of deposit and reward and return schemes for drinks containers, and to provide advice by the end of 2017.
However, in its submission to the Audit Committee inquiry, LARAC has spoken out against the introduction of a deposit return scheme, which it claims would make local authority kerbside recycling collection schemes ‘less efficient’.
Funding
It said: “LARAC would not want to see deposits introduced for plastic bottles that removed them from the council collection schemes. This would have the effect of making the council schemes less efficient and require a new set of collection infrastructure to be introduced. LARAC believes that the UK is better served by providing more funds for the existing council kerbside collection scheme for plastic bottles.
“LARAC also reiterates the need to consider direct charging as a means to change consumer behaviour on recycling in general but in this instance to increase the number of plastic bottles required.”
The organisation added that consumers need access to a ‘comprehensive’ collection infrastructure, which currently exists through the local authority services. It adds that the current producer responsibility regime does not make producers responsible for the design and recyclability of their products.
European countries including Germany operate deposit schemes for bottles
Infrastructure
It added: “LARAC believes that the UK should look to build on and enhance the collection infrastructure that is already in place, through councils, and use these to maximise the materials that are collected. In order to enable this and embed appropriate producer responsibility LARAC believes there is value in removing targets from local authorities and placing them on producers, with local authorities having some duty to cooperate to ensure they do remove themselves from the process.”
In its response to the inquiry LARAC also criticised ‘successive governments’ for failing to engage in communications activities around recycling. The organisation did however that local authorities ‘put a great deal of effort into communicating their recycling services to residents’.
It added: “LARAC believes that successive governments have been poor at engaging in communications for recycling. Whilst WRAP could be seen to be undertaking this role for years there have been times when messages from government cuts across and work against the communications activities of local government.”
The post LARAC warns against deposit scheme for plastic bottles appeared first on letsrecycle.com.
Source: letsrecycle.com Plastic
