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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what criteria will he use to assess the effectiveness of the Deposit Return Scheme proposals in delivering maximum environmental benefit.

The Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) objectives include boosting recycling levels, offering greater opportunities to collect higher quality, uncontaminated materials in greater quantities thus promoting a circular economy and reducing littering. Last year's consultation proposed that a key feature of the policy would be an ambitious 90% collection target for in-scope material which could be phased in, to ensure the ongoing high performance of the DRS.