The brightly coloured drink Irn-Bru is one of the last bottles in Britain still to be sold with a deposit, which makes it incredibly unique.  If the bottle is returned to the company, the consumer, or anyone else who returns it, gets 30p in cash.  In 2010, Irn-Bru reported that 70% of all its glass bottles came back for refilling.  This scheme is called the Bottle Deposit Scheme, and is a simple and old scheme, which was found for a short period in the U.K 20 years ago, but is sadly defunct in the rest of the country [1].

How does it work? [2] & [3]

• The drinks manufacturer adds a 10p deposit to the price of every bottle or can with a maximum capacity of 500ml and 30p for bottles or cans with a larger capacity sold to the retailer.
• The retailer then adds the 10p to the price to the consumer.
• The consumer (or if someone picks up the bottle or can from the street) collects the 10p deposit when he/she returns the bottle or can to the retailer or supermarket
• The retailer reclaims the 10p deposits when they return the container to the manufacturer/distributor
• The manufacturer/distributor then gets the money from selling the containers for recycling.

Impacts of a bottle deposit scheme

A reduction of litter

Through introducing a bottle deposit scheme by legislation, the amount of litter could decrease dramatically.  Container deposits are neutral for consumers who recycle, penalise people who litter and provide an incentive for people to pick up litter.  A deposit scheme would achieve a change in consumer awareness, particularly in tackling rural and roadside litter, as fines do not have big impacts.

In Denmark it has become a custom for students at parties and social gatherings to leave behind their bottles or cans brought with them.  This allows the host to recover the deposit paid by his/her guests and is often an alternative to charging people an entry fee.

Table 1 illustrates how the amount of litter has been reduced in selected states across the USA after the introduction of a bottle deposit scheme.  It should be noted the time period over which the reduction was achieved is not published [4].

Potential to increase the U.K’s low recycling rates

The U.K currently only recycles 48% of its aluminium drinks cans.  Compared to countries that operate deposit schemes, namely, Denmark [a], Finland, Germany, Norway and Sweden, this rate of recycling is small.  These countries achieve recycling rates of 85-91%.  It has been estimated that the U.K could achieve similar recycling rates [5].

With regards to bottles recycled, the citizens of the U.K use 13 billion plastic bottles each year.  Of these only 35% are recycled, which is less than half the recycling rate of other European countries that have bottle recycling rates of 75% [6]. Having the right equipment to aid recycling in the home and the workplace is important, such as a designated recycling bin

Savings in cleaning costs

In terms of savings in cleaning costs, a report commissioned by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) claims that the cost of running the scheme would be funded by unclaimed deposits and the public sector would save £160 million per year in cleaning costs [7].

Jobs

Additional research by the CPRE shows that over 4,000 full time equivalent green jobs could be created by a U.K deposit refund scheme for drinks containers.  The new CPRE report entitled From waste to work: the potential of a deposit refund scheme to create jobs in the U.K, also found that in addition to generating thousands of green jobs similar to current waste collection and processing occupations, the deposit scheme would generate between 353-393 higher-paid maintenance and engineering jobs and a further 100 office-based administration positions needed to run the scheme.  This central office should be situated somewhere in the U.K and could be targeted towards an area with high unemployment.

In March, 2011 research from IPSOS-MORI, a leading political social and business research company, showed how a deposit scheme could raise £432 million in voluntary donations for local charities and Big Society organisations [8].

Conclusion

For the younger generation of Britain it is not a well-known fact that the U.K actually did have a bottle deposit scheme some 20 years ago.  Although this did not last for long, it is important that we recognise that times have changed and we find ourselves in an age where environmental consciousness is rapidly growing.  It may, therefore, be time to re-use the old plan just like we re-use old bottles and cans.

[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/17/in-praise-of-bottle-deposits

[2] http://litterheroes.co.uk/bottlebill.htm

[3] http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/16/bottle-tin-deposit-scheme-cpre

[4] See [2]

[5] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11322567

[6] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3795997/Bottle-deposit-scheme-could-reduce- litter-and-boost-recycling.html

[7] http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/sep/17/in-praise-of-bottle-deposits

[8] http://www.cpre.org.uk/what-we-do/energy-and-waste/litter-and-fly-tipping/update/item/2370-research-shows-a-bottle-deposit-scheme-would-create-over-4000-jobs.  This website contains a link to the report.

[a] For an overview of the Danish deposit scheme please see http://www.dansk-retursystem.dk/composite-166.htm.