Vocal Voices

It looks as though Scotland's attempt has been scuppered by Westminster using the excuse that all schemes must be aligned in the UK. Why?

There are ten different schemes running in Europe - all slightly different. With the exception of Croatia they are all in Germanic or Nordic countries with shared borders. If they can run independently of each other then why can't the same be true for the UK.

The return rates run from 82% in Estonia to 97% in Norway.

It is hard to get figures for the UK because we do not calculate waste streams in any meaningful way, but as an overall rate our recycling is below 50%, and a lot of that is not "recycled" it becomes what is known as Incinerator Bottom Ash because we burn a lot of our "recycling".

So much for net-zero and helping the environment eh?

As we've remarked before, back in the 50's there were plenty of schemes to return soda syphons and beer bottles (used to enhance my pocket money!), so like you, I can't see why we can't get something off the ground today.

4d back on a bottle - I remember it well

Six returns plus a few pennies got you a "free" bottle of pop from the Barr's / Corona lorry, and a few jam jars got you in to the Saturday morning film at the Clock cinema.

Green Shield stamps!

We were "persuaded" to be environmentally friendly without putting in too much effort. Nowadays it is such a tremendous chore - "OMG, you mean that I have to put it in the bin. I pay taxes so that someone else can clean up for me!"

The old scheme worked well because the pop firms ran it.

The Scottish scheme seems to me to be a tax by any other name. The producers get

Producers are billed 20p by the administrator for every bottle or can they plan to put on the Scottish market - but they get this back by adding it to the cost of their products.

This 20p deposit is passed on down the chain, through wholesalers and retailers - and eventually on to the customer, who gets it back when the item is handed in for recycling.

In addition, producers are charged a small fee by the administrator to help cover the cost of running the service - about 2p per item for plastic or aluminium bottles and 4p per glass bottle.

Circularity Scotland will pay retailers a small handling fee for fulfilling their role as return points - roughly 2p or 3p per item, depending on the collection method.

The retailers pay customers for recycled items out of their own funds, but are reimbursed by the administrator.

That is somewhat more complicated, to me. He gets charged, she gets charged, they get charged, ???

True, but something has to be done.

The bins at the local park are overflowing with cans and plastic bottles, but they are contaminated with half eaten sandwiches, orange peel, apple cores and crisp packets etc.. They go to the incinerator, which, to my mind, is not recycling.

If 20p is put on a bottle of water which can be reclaimed if it is taken back then it is up to the buyer what they do with it - throw the money away or reclaim it. Not hard is it?

Workingman wrote:If 20p is put on a bottle of water which can be reclaimed if it is taken back then it is up to the buyer what they do with it - throw the money away or reclaim it. Not hard is it?

Especially if that 20p is ringfenced for better recycling of mixed waste.