2023 Britvic Soft Drinks Review Licensed - Flipbook - Page 6
WELCOME
SUSTAINABILITY
CATEGORY OVERVIEW
The unequivocal environmental
case for DRS
The above numbers speak for themselves. The science
makes it clear that humanity needs to take urgent and
decisive action to reduce the impact we have on the
planet, which is the “biggest threat modern humans
have ever faced”.11
DRS won’t be enough on its own, but it’s a good start.
We expect it to deliver a swift reduction in the 110
million pieces of plastic that are littered across Scotland
every year,12 approximately doubling13 the collection and
recycling of soft drinks containers bought for on-thego consumption, which are mostly resealable plastic
bottles.14 A 2019 report15 estimated that as little as 9%
of material used to package on-the-go drinks in the UK
is recycled. That needs to change, and fast.
UK packaging waste recycling figures are more
encouraging. Provisional data for 2021 suggests that
63.2% of packaging was recycled that year; 76% of
metal, 73.6% of glass, 70.6% of paper and cardboard
and 44.2% of plastic.16 Still, these numbers are down
on 2020’s recycling rates16 and clearly need to be
improved. A nationwide DRS will help by increasing
household recycling rates of in scope containers.
of UK packaging waste
was recycled in 202116
63.2%
The effectiveness of DRS has been proven by the more
than 50 schemes currently in operation around the
world. These systems effectively recover on average
90% of drinks containers for closed loop recycling,
stopping plastic, metals and other packaging materials
from blighting earth’s landscapes and ending up in our
oceans or waterways. By the end of 2026, 748 million
people could live in areas with DRS in place, more than
double the population covered at the end of 2022.17
11 United Nations, 23/02/2021 - https://press.un.org/en/2021/sc14445.doc.htm
12 The Scottish Government, 2020 -https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/factsheet/2019/11/marine-scotland-topic-sheets-ecosystems/
documents/plastic-in-scotlands-seas-published-january-2020/plastic-in-scotlands-seas-published-january-2020/govscot%3Adocument/Topic%2Bsheet%2B151%2Bv1%2B%2BHow%2Bmuch%2Bplastic%2Benters%2BScottish%2Bseas%2Band%2Bwhere%2Bdoes%2Bit%2Bcome%2Bfrom.pdf
13 Based on target for second year of DRS of 90% and 44.2% plastic packaging rate of recycling in 2021 - https://www.statista.com/statistics/812502/plastic-packagingwaste-recycling-united-kingdom/#:~:text=The%20recycling%20rate%20of%20plastic,a%20high%20of%2047.2%20percent.
14 Gov.uk, 20/01/2023 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/deposit-return-scheme-for-drinks-containers-moves-a-step-closer
15 WRAP – February 2019, Drinks Recycling On-the-Go P7 - https://wrap.org.uk/sites/default/files/2021-03/OTG%20Drinks%20Containers%20Final%20Report%20ENG017012.pdf
16 Defra, 11/05/2022 - https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/uk-waste-data/uk-statistics-on-waste
17 Reloop, Global Deposit Book 2022 - https://www.reloopplatform.org/global-deposit-book-2022/
6
SUSTAINABILITY