Dear Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
We are local businesses across the UK actively working to free where we live and work from avoidable single-use plastic.
As you start the consultation on the type of scheme in England we are calling on the Government to introduce a world class Deposit Return Scheme to reduce pollution and ensure a closed circular economy of recycled plastic and cans, meeting recycling targets and drastically cutting back on the use of new virgin plastic.
Environmental charity Surfers Against Sewage has found all types and sizes of plastic drinks bottles and cans on its beaches and rivers, so we call for an inclusive Deposit Return Scheme that includes ALL sizes of bottles and cans. We must keep recycling simple for the public and business.
We are also calling for a scheme that connects right across the UK from Penzance to Perth. The consultation in Scotland is well underway and England must connect with the same inclusive scheme. There is already too much confusion with different recycling schemes across the UK undermining recycling progress.
As small businesses we can take steps to remove single-use plastic from our work places but only together can we free where we live from single-use, from the beach all the way back to the system that produces it.
