Bottle recycling schemes work by providing a monetary incentive to return the container for recycling. In a bid to boost recycling and reduce waste, England is proposing to introduce a new drink bottle and can deposit return scheme which will see consumers pay a small extra cost (8p – 22p) when they buy single-use drink containers but get this returned when they return the container to be recycled. In some areas, bottles or cans are taken back to the shop they were bought from, while in others a network of automated collection points known as “reverse vending machines” have been installed. If a customer doesn’t return a bottle to collect the deposit, that money can be given to the producers, retailers, donated to charity or funnelled back into running the scheme. Research has found that countries with deposit return schemes tended to recycle between 80% and 95% of their plastic bottles. In Norway, 95% of all plastic bottles are now recycled, compared with England at the moment where the rate is 57%. Germany also has a really effective system too if you’d like more inspiration 🙂
