Costs likely to stymie drink deposit proposal plan
An ongoing consultation by government officials on a UK deposit system for beverage containers is likely to run aground due to cost, the interests of retailers and brand owners, and the probable consumer response.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) is consulting with stakeholders from retailers and industry associations to reverse vending equipment suppliers. Particular pressure on the issue of litter has come from the Campaign to Protect Rural England.
DEFRA will only say that environment minister Joan Ruddock has instructed officials to investigate the viability of a UK system. It has asked The British Soft Drinks Association (BSDA) to estimate the potential capital cost for a system based on single-trip containers, provisionally put at over £1bn for that sector.
BSDA communications director Richard Laming says: "DEFRA is looking at different policy mechanisms to see what might make a difference." But when it comes to avoiding litter and landfill he does not believe this is the answer. "High levels of recovery happen when consumers take action, and they'll take action at home rather than at reverse vending machines. That is where the battle will be lost or won."
A German system operating since 2003 has had mixed results. But proponents point to successful Scandinavian systems, with high recovery rates and contained costs.
Aleksander Mortensen, vice president for business development at reverse vending supplier Tomra, says: "It would be possible to establish a deposit system in the UK. But it is possible to design a good system and equally possible to design a very bad one. Examples of both exist in Europe today."
Critics point out that conditions in the UK are very different to Scandinavia or even Germany. "We don't have the existing infrastructure that they had in these other countries," says Laming. "And retailers, for instance, are already very unhappy with the storage and handling requirements of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations for electrical goods."
