Surfers against Sewage is calling on supporters to sign its petition to stop marine plastic pollution by introducing a small, refundable deposit on all plastic bottles, glass bottles and cans to recycle the 16 million plastic bottles thrown away every day.

The UK government is finalising a plan to tackle Britain’s litter problem but is wavering about a bottle deposit scheme, where 10p would be added to the price of a drink and refunded if you bring the bottle back.

In the UK we use a staggering 38.5 million single-use plastic bottles and a further 58 million cans every day. Only half of the bottles are recycled, and many end up on our beaches and in our oceans.

Plastic bottles take 450 years to break down, killing marine life, harming the coastal ecosystem and ruining our beaches.

Placing a small deposit on plastic bottles and cans would dramatically increase recycling and reduce marine plastic pollution.

A delegation from Surfers Against Sewage will deliver the petition signatures to the governments in Westminster (London), Holyrood (Edinburgh), Senedd (Cardiff) and Stormont (Belfast).

For full information on deposit return systems, please visit Surfers Against Sewage’s Message In A Bottle campaign site.https://www.sas.org.uk/messageinabottle/

Source: Surfers against Sewage, 38 Degrees