Tom Richmond: Join the plastics fight...before the Government messes it up

Britain should not wait for the Government to take the lead on the recycling of plastic bottles.

'WE want the townsman to love rural England as he finds it, and not bespattered with paper and bottles'.

So said the then Duke of Norfolk more than 70 years ago when the Campaign to Protect Rural England was tasked with leading the fight against litter.

Fast forward seven decades and the tide is finally beginning to turn as Environment Secretary Michael Gove proposes a deposit return scheme for single-use drinks containers.

Prompted by Sir David Attenborough’s acclaimed Blue Planet II series on marine pollution, Gove is now launching a consultation exercise on how best to recycle more of the 13 billion plastic drinks bottles used by consumers in the UK each year. Sorry, but a long-winded consultation exercise – Government-speak for scaling back good intentions – will undermine the positive momentum that has been generated in recent months.

As Defra tries to devise a nationwide scheme, it should also be putting the onus on local businesses to set up recycling schemes in the interim. What’s to stop supermarkets accepting used bottles now in return for a voucher to be spent in their store? It’s a ‘win, win’ – less plastic being discarded in the countryside and the goodwill of customers committed to enhancing the environment.

Don’t tell me the big stores can’t spare the space for a skip – and a member of staff to supervise such a scheme? It’s the same with local councils – they should be working with their communities to come up with more effective recycling initiatives now rather than waiting for Ministers to tell them what to do, and then whinging about a lack of resources. As such, this is one occasion when the country shouldn’t be waiting for the Government to act. As Ministers ponder, the tide of public opinion should be utilised so councils, communities and companies can join forces and start winning a war against plastic before Gove finalises his battleplan.

JEREMY Corbyn is no stranger to protests outside the Houses of Parliament. From Margaret Thatcher to Theresa May’s premiership, he has found himself at the forefront of countless rallies on the whole gamut of social and humanitarian issues.