Deposit Return Schemes

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs written question – answered at on 13 November 2025.

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Photo of Martin Wrigley Martin Wrigley Liberal Democrat, Newton Abbot

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 3 November 2025 to Question 86440 on Deposit Return Schemes, if she will take steps to ensure the deposit return scheme allows (a) bottles and (b) other deposit items (i) purchased in the UK to be returned in other European countries and (ii) vice versa.

Photo of Mary Creagh Mary Creagh The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Thank you for your interest in the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). The objectives of DRS include boosting recycling levels, reducing littering, and offering greater opportunities to collect higher quality, uncontaminated materials in greater quantities.

In practical terms, DRS regulations allow UK Deposit Management Organisation (Ltd), who has been appointed to operate the scheme in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, to work jointly and in cooperation with other scheme administrators, including those operating an overseas scheme.

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