A summit took place in London last week, that brought the four nations together to coordinate work and set principles for the design of a potential Deposit Return Scheme across the UK.

Welsh Government Minister for Environment, Hannah Blythyn, and the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs, Lesley Griffiths, met their UK and devolved government counterparts to discuss potential UK-wide scheme’s design and operation.

A Deposit Return Scheme would see people pay a small deposit when they buy a drink in a single-use container and get that money back when it is returned empty.

“I welcome working with the other UK nations on a UK-wide Deposit Return Scheme. There appears to be a collective appetite for a scheme from all UK nations, so this would be the most practical and effective way to implement a scheme,” said Blythyn. 

“We are considering a number of solutions to reducing the impact of single-use plastics on our environment in Wales. Any scheme we introduce must be the best for Wales and work alongside our existing policies, which have made us first in the UK and third in the World for household recycling.”