Greenpeace drinks deposit campaign

Image borrowed from Greenpeace.

I find myself increasingly concerned with the terminally detrimental actions we are having upon our Earth.  I read something on Instagram that I thought was rather telling particularly as I am trying so hard to reduce my waste.

Annie Marie Bonneau Zero Waste Chef:
"We don't need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly.  We need millions doing it perfectly"

And when I got an email from Greenpeace urging me to contact Michael Gove, Environmental Minister, about ensuring that the Plastic Deposit return scheme is a rigorous one to avoid loopholes for companies etc, I was strongly compelled to respond AND add my own personal note.

You can see the Greenpeace Press release about it here.

You can read from my experience of living in Bali how I honestly feel that hitting people in the pocket is the only way to go:


Dear Mr Gove,
I work in education and I am at the forefront of those teaching our next generation how to take care of our earth and I ardently talk to my pupils about reducing our waste and recycling but despite all this, I am surrounded by individuals who struggle to be bothered to recycle things at times. I personally fish out tin cans, plastic drink bottles and all sorts of easily recyclable things from the bins because I can't bear to see them ending in landfill and wash them myself. Honestly, I truly believe that if you made an incentive in the form of a returnable deposit, this is something that would really help.  Schools would get on board (in order to save money), individuals seem to care so much about money, I honestly believe this is one of the few things that would work.

I lived in Bali for a year and I saw people dumping their plastic bottles around sacred religious places (Besakhi, the holy mountain, beaches and many other places), but they would ALWAYS return their glass bottles to the shop because they would get their money back, there were never any plastic bottles throw into the undergrowth and this tells me the importance of making the deposit scheme universal! I've seen it in action in real life where only the items with a deposit get treated responsibly and the rest is just fly-tipped.

Therefore, the following is a response to questions 9 and 12 in the government's consultation on a deposit return scheme:

9. Should the following materials be-in scope of a DRS:
a. PET bottles Yes
b. HDPE bottles  Yes
c. Aluminium cans Yes
d. Steel cans Yes
e. Glass bottles Yes
f. Other (please specify) Tetrapak

We need a deposit return scheme that includes drinks containers of all materials and sizes in order to start tackling our plastic pollution crisis
Studies have shown that a DRS significantly increases recycling and leads to a reduction in litter overalI. Including all drinks containers is the best way to reduce litter and improve recycling.
There is also significant risk that if certain material were excluded, producers would switch to these materials in order to avoid producer responsibility.

Should the following materials be-in scope of a DRS: a. Cartons e.g. Tetrapak Yes

We believe that in an ‘all in’ DRS system, producers should pay for the full cost of collecting of all possible materials, as this will incentivise them to use materials that are easier to recycle for use as food grade containers

12. Should the following drinks be in-scope of a DRS:


a. Water Yes
b. Soft drinks (excluding juices) Yes
c. Juices (fruit and vegetable) Yes
d. Alcoholic drinks Yes (all)
e. Milk containing drinks Yes (all)
f. Plant-based drinks (such as soya, rich almond and oat drinks) Yes
g. Milk Yes

A good DRS should be ‘all in’ in every sense - covering containers of all materials and sizes in order to capture the very maximum possible amount of used drinks containers and achieve the desired outcomes listed in question 77.

It should be noted that we believe deposits will be most effective when considered alongside a full package of extended producer responsibility (EPR) requirements, not just those on drinks containers, where producers are responsible for 100% of the costs of collecting and sorting packaging waste.

Kind regards,
{user_data~first_name} {user_data~last_name}


https://act.greenpeace.org/page/38699/action/1?source=EM&subsource=OCPOPSSOEM01VA&utm_source=gpeace&utm_medium=EM&utm_campaign=OCPOPSSOEM01VA

I urge you to also contact Mr Gove.  You can just send the standard form that they give at the link but you can also personalise it, even just a little bit, like I did.


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