Steve Double, Member of Parliament for St Austell and Newquay, has welcomed last week’s commitment from Secretary of State for the Environment Michael Gove MP, that he wants the Government to introduce a plastic bottle deposit scheme "as soon as possible".
Following his speech on ‘Green Brexit’ the Secretary of State said he wants the Government to introduce a plastic bottle deposit scheme "as soon as possible", and that "change needs to come" as plastic pollution is "killing whales, choking dolphins and degrading our oceans and seas".
Describing a plastic bottle deposit scheme as a "great idea", he said it was vital to devise a programme "that others can buy into".
Commenting, Steve said:
“It is great to see growing support for the campaign to introduce a plastic bottle deposit return scheme. With the Government clearly now ‘buying into’ the need to introduce a plastic bottle deposit scheme as part of its ‘Green Brexit’ plans I am more hopeful than ever that we can see something done in the very near future. This really is positive news.”
“With government, the drinks industry and environmental campaign groups all agreeing that a return scheme is one of the best ways of reducing the amount of plastic polluting our seas I see no reason why this will not now happen.”
“As always, the devil will be in the detail. As Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group Protect Our Waves we have campaigned with Surfers Against Sewage for these changes. I will continue to press the issue in Parliament and ensure that when the Government does take further steps the final scheme is one that is effective in reducing the numbers of plastic bottles that get dumped into our seas and end up on our beaches.”