ANTI-LITTER campaigners have repeated calls for major changes to the recycling of bottles and cans after one Evesham resident collected a staggering 38 bags of rubbish by herself in January.
A new cash incentive system, placing deposits on drinks bottles and cans, will boost recycling from 2025 under plans revealed by the Government for a ‘deposit return scheme’.
But members of Anti-Litter Evesham – founded to keep the town tidy – want to see quicker progress following a packed January which saw group organiser Laura Van Toller litter pick every day and fill 38 bags in just 50 hours of picking.
Among her ‘finds’ was a Big Mac polystyrene carton from 1996 and regular discoveries of used nappies.
“It shouldn’t be necessary for us to litter pick but the rubbish keeps on coming,” a spokesperson for the group said.
“Two of our Wombles cleared more than 200 items of litter from a poor deserted ditch and filled three bags at the weekend.
“This footpath area runs from the end of the schools on Four Pools Lane to Davies Road and the ditch has become a dumping ground for litter.
“It’s another section of Evesham which has three litter bins available.
“Our team of volunteers also went to the rescue of our Morrisons who asked for help on a litter pick around their car park and surrounding footpaths.
“Lurking in the fog on the day was an awful amount of litter. This is why we need the deposit return scheme in England as soon as possible.”
Environment Minister Rebecca Pow revealed plans for the scheme to be introduced in two years’ time late last month.
Under the scheme, small cash deposits will be placed on single-use drinks containers such as bottles and cans which can be returned to ‘reverse vending machines’ at designated sites where people can return their bottles and receive their cash back.
In most cases it would be the retailers who sell drinks covered by the scheme who would host a return point.
Every year UK consumers go through an estimated around 14billion plastic drinks bottles and nine billion drinks cans, many of which are littered or condemned to landfill.
A target is in place to collect over 85 per cent of returnable drinks containers once the scheme is up and running.
Volunteers are welcome at the next litter pick being organised by Anti-Litter Evesham next Saturday (February 11) from 10am.
Visit www.facebook.com/antilitterevesham for more.
