LARAC has warned against the rush of Deposit Return Schemes (DRS) in the UK after the latest report from Keep Britain Tidy.
The report from Keep Britain Tidy states its belief that the implementation of a DRS could save local authorities £35 million annually.
However, LARAC believes that this analysis, based on just 1% of UK local authorities, does not prove that DRS is sufficient enough for the UK.
The organisation indicated that the majority of countries with a successful DRS launched them before those countries had “robust“ kerbside collection schemes.
LARAC believes that funds should be directed into the existing kerbside collection infrastructure as this would deliver a larger increase in the final outcome of recycling rates at a more effective cost.
They have informed the industry that the UK has a blanket coverage of kerbside collections for beverage containers and to match the existing programme with a new DRS does not make economic sense.
LARAC chairman Andrew Bird said: “LARAC believes that producer responsibility should be extended in the UK but in the case of packaging and in particular beverage containers, through robust and consistent collection services provided by local authorities and their partners from the private waste industry. Investment in on–the–go recycling infrastructure and communications could be a much more meaningful way of producers really helping to make a difference and cut local authority costs.”
