So Michael Gove thinks paying a deposit on bottles (and cans) will encourage people to take them back and have them recycled.

I already pay my council (via council tax) to recycle my bottles and cans. Why should I pay Tesco to do the same?

Do Tesco really want customers bringing in a load of smelly bottles and cans for recycling? They would have to be handed over at the checkout to get the refund, I imagine.

And what am I going to put in my recycling bin if not bottles and cans?

I'm confused. Or is it just that Michael Gove hasn't thought it through?

I can (pun there) remember in the 50/60s manufactures used a similar scheme. You bought your fizzy pop in a glass bottle and when you bought more you took your used bottles back and was given a 'returned bottle discount'.

This is NOT a new idea.


Only problem is ........... i'm overdrawn at the bottle bank currently.

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There was a deposit on jam jars when I was much younger. They could be cashed in at the cinema as well, and with no Internet or TV it was a major weekly entertainment location.

What was different then was that the jars, bottles and other deposit items were not recycled. They were washed and reused. The companies that bottled soft drinks nearly all used the same bottle (a Scottish Flag bottle) so there was no need to get the individual bottles back to the original filler. The main exception was Irn Bru which is still in business while most of the others have ceased trading. Everyone can spread it - Anyone can catch it. Stay home - the life you save can be your own!

The cans and bottles get put into a machine that’s in the shop/supermarket. In return you get a voucher to spend in the shop.

Do you still get money for a BRU bottle? A glass cheque as we called them. 21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

as has been said, we already pay through our council tax for things to be recycled, every single bit of plastic and other recyclable stuff we have goes into the recycling bin in our house, so now we will have to have another separate bin for going back to the shop to claim the deposit back.
Also will plastic bottles from any shop be accepted at Tesco or wherever ? or will Tesco only accept bottles bought there, Asda only their own, Morrisons their own etc etc ?

its just another ill thought through knee jerk reaction to try and appease the environmental warriors

don't get me wrong, I do 100% agree with recycling etc but unless the authorities and recycling companies actually do the recycling then whats the point? There is/was a huge storage compound near me full of bundles of recycling from the local council contractors that never seemed to change in size and full lorries only went in, never out.

We have family in a small village in Switzerland and they're encouraged to recycle pretty much everything - there's an area in the car park with containers for cans (complete with its own 'crusher unit') bins for coffee pods and such like. The local supermarket has a giant 'hopper' into which you drop off used light bulbs, batteries etc.
Not sure how their council taxes reflect their recycling, although dustman certainly don't take it away.

Local Authorities are required by law to recycle a minimum of 50% of household rubbish by 2020, and I believe they are now meeting that target.

If the government removes bottles and cans from household rubbish by moving it to Tesco's car park, or wherever, then that 50% target will surely be missed, and local authorities will be penalised.

It doesn't make any sense!

Seems like a good money making opportunity just like when kids were kids. We would go to local picnic spots etc. and collect deposit bottles that had been left or dumped as litter and then take them back to the shop to get the deposit. With branded drinks like Tizer etc. you could take the bottle back to any shop that sold it to get the deposit and you didn't have to buy anything with the money. I paid not to take too many to one shop at a time so we just split them between shops. Not so long ago, in the 1970s drinks such as Ribena were in a glass deposit bottle and Tesco used to take them back and give the deposit.

If anyone can remember the old Andy Cap cartoons (showing my age now), when he was short of cash he would get a soda syphon, which had a five bob deposit, on the slate at one off-license, empty it and take it back to another off-licence to get the deposit back. Great scheme, just like the Labour government ran the economy!

J

Edited for typos

I agree that it all sounds like a bit of a faff for those of us that already carefully sort out all our waste streams, but if it does anything to reduce the amount of litter that is deposited anywhere and everywhere, then I am all in favour

I find it incredible the amount of litter that is chucked out of cars on to the verges. In particular. drinks bottles and cans, sandwich wrappers together with carrier bags containing fast food meal packaging

Steve

I remember the bottles with the 6d (2 1/2p) deposit written on the cap. We'd take them back to out local offie as kids, get the money and then later on, jump over the wall into the yard, get our bottles back and take them to another offie and claim some more money. Rinse, repeat.  Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

Now that is recycling  Jules

jenks1950 wrote:

I agree that it all sounds like a bit of a faff for those of us that already carefully sort out all our waste streams, but if it does anything to reduce the amount of litter that is deposited anywhere and everywhere, then I am all in favour

I find it incredible the amount of litter that is chucked out of cars on to the verges. In particular. drinks bottles and cans, sandwich wrappers together with carrier bags containing fast food meal packaging

Steve

Steve D wrote:

I remember the bottles with the 6d (2 1/2p) deposit written on the cap. We'd take them back to out local offie as kids, get the money and then later on, jump over the wall into the yard, get our bottles back and take them to another offie and claim some more money. Rinse, repeat.

I never did that  Common sense isn't very common.
_______________________________
2007 Land Rover Freelander2 I6 hse Auto

tim_roberts wrote:

So Michael Gove thinks paying a deposit on bottles (and cans) will encourage people to take them back and have them recycled.

I already pay my council (via council tax) to recycle my bottles and cans...

Such a scheme has been operating here for a couple of years now. Even though there is normal bin recycling an additional 10c is added to cans and bottles which can be reclaimed by voucher from an automatic machine at the supermarket. It doesn't matter the origin of the bottle or the can.

One advantage is that you will not see abandoned bottles or cans littering the streets.

Have to agree with others' comments about roadside litter. I drove from Harwich on A120 and then A12 to London a couple of weeks back. What a sad welcome to England. I've never seen so much roadside litter.

I presume council tax doesn't stretch to picking it up. Pity those doing community service cannot be tasked to do it. Years ago I remember gangs of offenders were used here to tidy up the highways but probably it's now against their human rights to miss their favourite TV programme. driving on the right side