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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if his Department will assess the potential merits of implementing a deposit return scheme that includes containers of all sizes earlier than 2023.

The Government committed, in its 2019 manifesto, to introduce a deposit return scheme to incentivise people to recycle drinks containers.

On 24 March we published our second consultation on implementing a deposit return scheme for drinks containers. Further details of the proposed deposit return scheme, including the size of drinks containers being considered as part of the scope of the scheme, are presented in this second consultation.

Timelines have been reviewed to ensure we allow sufficient time for the roll out and implementation of a complex policy, and we therefore propose to implement the scheme in 2024, with views on this being taken in the consultation.