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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 11 January 2019 to Question 206400 on Beverage Containers: Recycling, what assessment he has made of (a) the effectiveness of deposit return systems in operation in other countries; and (b) the merits of the Norwegian environmental tax on recyclable plastic bottles.

The consultation regarding the introduction of a deposit return scheme (DRS) will be published shortly, and will look at how a scheme might sit alongside other measures to boost recycling. The specific model, scope and scale of any scheme, have not yet been determined, and we are currently developing proposals on these to be consulted on.

We are drawing upon experience of how DRS systems operate in a range of countries to help shape our proposals for a scheme in England. As the Minister responsible for this policy area, I visited Norway, Sweden and Denmark at the end of 2017, to find out more about the DRS in those countries.