Supermarkets, retailers and drinks companies should be forced to pay significantly more towards the recycling of the plastic packaging they sell, an influential committee of MPs has said. The place where plastic is a dirty word | Patrick Barkham Read moreBritish consumers use 13bn plastic bottles a year, but only 7.5bn are recyled. MPs said the introduction of a plastic bottle deposit return scheme (DRS) was key to reducing plastic waste in the UK, as part of a series of measures to reduce littering and increase recycling rates. “Plastic bottles make up a third of all plastic pollution in the sea and are a growing litter problem on UK beaches. We need action at individual, council, regional and national levels to turn back the plastic tide.”In the report MPs called for the “polluter pays” principle to be applied to companies to increase their contribution to recycling plastic waste.

Source: The Guardian December 22, 2017 06:31 UTC