Glass dropped from Deposit Return Scheme in England and Northern Ireland
The UK Government Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging consultation has seen glass being dropped from the proposed Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for England and Northern Ireland.
Some consultation responses to the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs raised concerns over glass, in particular the way glass is collected in reverse vending machines, possibly being crushed and mixed, ultimately resulting in poorer quality glass than is collected currently through kerbside recycling.
Respondents also highlighted the potential increase in handling costs and equipment complexity that comes from collecting glass bottles in a DRS. Reverse vending machines will need to be emptied more frequently and will carry safety risks associated with handling broken glass.
The weight of glass and the potential for breakages also poses consumer safety issues in transporting glass bottles to return points.
Taking these concerns into consideration, England and Northern Ireland will not include glass in their Deposit Return Schemes.
Glass drinks bottles will be in scope of EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility), which will place targets on producers in relation to glass recycling and require them to pay for the cost of managing glass packaging generated by households.
Northern Ireland will keep under review the inclusion of glass once the DRS is fully operational to ensure glass drinks containers are meeting the required recycling targets.
Commenting on Glass' exclusion from the proposed DRS in England and Northern Ireland, CEO Dave Dalton said: “British Glass welcomes the decision by Defra and the Northern Ireland Executive to keep glass out of the proposed deposit return scheme in England and Northern Ireland. Ensuring that glass is recycled through an effective kerbside system, coupled with the introduction of extended producer responsibility, is absolutely the right way to improve glass recycling rates and reduce carbon emissions."
“We very much look forward to working with government to make extended producer responsibility a success for glass packaging, helping to meet the UK’s rightly ambitious environmental targets.”
