Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the potential economic benefits for households of including bottles and cans in the packaging Extended Producer Responsibility Scheme rather than a separate Deposit Return Scheme.

This assessment has not been undertaken. The Government is committed to introducing a deposit return scheme (DRS) for drinks containers from 2025 and a final impact assessment for the DRS will be published later this year, which will address its full economic benefits. Until a DRS is operational in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, internal analysis determined producers of in-scope drinks containers will be subject to recycling obligations (evidenced by PRNs only) under the packaging extended producer responsibility scheme.