Have You Got The Bottle?

Read our guest article below from Jenni Hume at 'Have You Got the Bottle?': a campaign towards a deposit return system in Scotland to reduce our plastic waste.

First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, shows her support for the deposit return scheme at the SNP Conference 2017.

Roseanna Cunningham, Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, trials a reverse vending machine at Edinburgh Zoo.

In 2018, the Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland launched their Have You Got The Bottle? campaign to urge Scottish Ministers to introduce a deposit return system for drinks containers. More than forty places around the world already have deposit return systems, and they've proven to be effective at reducing litter, improving the quality and quantity of recycling, creating jobs and reducing our reliance on virgin materials. In Norway, beach cleaners find that 5 out of 6 bottles they pick up come from non-deposit bearing countries!

The good news is that the Scottish Government have committed to introducing a deposit return system here in Scotland, and it looks like England and Wales will also follow suit. There's a public consultation running at the moment, to ask people for their views on how to design the best system. The consultation asks questions about how much you think the deposit should be, where we should be able to take our returns, and what type of materials should be included.

The team at Have You Got The Bottle? have written a guide for how to respond to the consultation, and it explains the reason for their answers too. You can explore more on their website below

We're looking forward to seeing cleaner seas and beaches as a result of this initiative - well done Scottish Government for leading the way!