Bring back bottle deposits to stop plastic pollution in our oceans.

We wanted to update you on the latest developments in Surfers Against Sewage’s deposit return system campaigning - www.sas.org.uk/messageinabottle - since the General Election.

We’ve written to the new Secretary of State for the Environment to remind him of the ocean plastic pollution crisis and the growing public support for a comprehensive deposit return system. We continue to urge the Government to commission a feasibility study on deposit return systems as part of the ongoing National Litter Strategy. We’re encouraged that the Scottish Government recently announced the commissioning of a design review to identify the best deposit return system for Scotland.

Mary Creagh MP has also been re-elected as chair of the Environmental Audit Committee. We’ve written to welcome her back to the post and encouraged her to urgently restart the inquiry into single-use plastic bottles and coffee cups.

We’ll keep you posted & thanks for your support, Surfers Against Sewage www.sas.org.uk

We welcomed the strong references to deposit return systems in the manifestos from the Labour Party, the Green Party and Plaid Cymur.

Labour: "We will set guiding targets for plastic bottle deposit schemes, working with food manufacturers and retailers to reduce waste.”

Greens: "Ending plastic waste by introducing a bottle deposit scheme to stop 16 million plastic bottles ending up in environment every day.”

Plaid Cymru: “We will reduce plastic waste with a deposit return scheme.”

There were references to recycling in the Conservative and Liberal Democrats manifestos:

Conservatives: “We will do more to reduce litter, including by supporting comprehensive rubbish collection and recycling, supporting better packaging, taking new powers to force councils to remove roadside litter and prosecuting offenders.”

Lib Dems: "Building on the success of our plastic bag charge, introduce a 5p charge on disposable coffee cups to reduce waste.”

Surfers Against Sewage has written to the political parties' manifesto teams calling for a deposit return system to be included in their manifestos. Find out more about what we called for here: https://www.sas.org.uk/news/sas-call-deposit-returns-manifesto/

We'll update you as the manifestos are announced.

The Government has published the long-awaited National Litter Strategy for England and Surfers Against Sewage welcome the news that deposit return systems will be seriously assessed as a measure to protect the environment. An expert panel will be looking at evidence to support a successful scheme to add a small refundable deposit to plastic bottles and other containers to help deliver much higher recycling rates, conserve resources, create green jobs, and protect our coastlines from the growing plastic pollution crisis.

This petition will be submitted to Government and presented to the expert panel reviewing bottle deposits.

More information on this breaking news. https://www.sas.org.uk/uncategorised/national-litter-strategy-deposit-return-systems-edging-closer/

The NFRN, the federation representing independent retailers (newsagents and convenience stores) have also come out in support of a deposit return system for Scotland!

That's industry leaders from the beverage sector (Coca-Cola), Waste & Recycling sector (Suez) and now the small/medium retailers (NFRN) supporting deposit returns for Scotland.

Share this petition with your friends and family to help us persuade the Government.

The campaign to bring back bottle deposits is progressing quickly. Here are a few of highlights.

Industry giants Coca Cola perform an unexpected but welcomed U-turn to publicly support deposit return. The same week waste & recycling industry leader Suez back the system promoting how deposit returns benefits the economy, communities and the environment. Read more here: https://www.sas.org.uk/news/coca-cola-supports-deposit-return-system/

A motion supporting deposit return systems has been set down in the Scottish Parliament, with almost 60 MSPs from every political party already supporting.

The Government’s Environmental Audit Committee is undertaking an inquiry into the staggering number of single-use plastic bottles that are used everyday in the UK. This petition will feature as part of Surfers Against Sewage’s evidence. Read more here: https://www.sas.org.uk/news/sas-news/sas-welcome-government-inquiry-plastic-bottles/

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