The UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs recently announced the long-awaited introduction of a national Deposit Return Scheme, a plan that will see small cash deposits placed on plastic bottles and cans, which consumers can get back using “reverse vending machines”.
The scheme was first suggested in the Government’s Resource and Waste Strategy of 2018, but faced delays due to the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. The plan will officially go into effect in 2025 in England, Northern Ireland and Wales, with Scotland introducing its own scheme this summer.
Deposit return schemes (DRSs) have already been implemented in many countries around the world, and with great success – in South Australia, for example, the introduction of a DSR resulted in a 300% reduction in the amount of beverage bottles that were ending up on beaches. As the UK Government noted in their press release, other countries that have such schemes in place – including Germany, Finland and Norway – have recycling rates of 90% and higher, compared to the UK’s 70%.
Still, here in the UK, the delayed implementation of the DRS and its inherent deficiencies (the UK’s DRS won’t include glass) have led many companies – Meetini included – to institute their own plans and policies to decrease waste and support a more circular economy.
One way that some companies are achieving this is through the introduction of refillable containers, which do away with the very need to recycle – itself an imperfect solution to our waste problem.
At Meetini, we’re implementing bottle refill stations for our new line of spirits at zero-waste stores around the country. Much like the Government’s DRS, our filling stations allow consumers to pay a deposit for bottles – the difference being that used bottles can be instantly refilled, rather than sent off to the recycling centre.
Other online retailers have also jumped on the refill bandwagon, including organic grocer Abel & Cole and refillable packaging provider Dizzie.
By circumventing the need to recycle, Meetini, Abel & Cole and Dizzie are actually contributing to a version of the UK that the most well-versed of environmentalists really want to see: one in which we’re able to avoid creating waste in the first place, rather than simply finding better ways to deal with that waste.
Ultimately, while we’re stoked to see the UK Government taking meaningful steps to curb the country’s huge single-use plastic problem, we’re also eager to discover the many ways in which private individuals and companies will continue to innovate in the realm of waste reduction leading up to 2025 and beyond!