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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of (a) consulting widely on the design of the Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers, (b) improving kerbside recycling and (c) increasing glass remelt targets.

UK Government, Welsh Government and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland consulted in 2019 and 2021 on the detail of introducing a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for drinks containers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In January 2023 we published the government response to the 2021 consultation, setting out policy decisions and next steps for introducing the scheme (link here). There was strong support, with 83% of consultation responses supporting the introduction of a DRS.

Defra is working closely with devolved administrations and industry to support successful DRS delivery across the UK.

Regarding kerbside recycling, following support at public consultation, new section 45 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (as amended by the Environment Act 2021) stipulates that all local authorities in England must make arrangements for a core set of materials to be collected for recycling from households. This core set includes: paper and card; plastic; glass; metal; food waste and garden waste. These materials must always be collected separately from residual waste so that they can be recycled. Commencement dates will be set out in regulations in due course.

In the Government response to the consultation on Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility published in March 2022 we set out our intention to increase the glass remelt target to 80% by 2030.