The proposed DRS is set to cover single-use drinks containers made from plastic and metal (150ml to three-litre). It specifically excludes glass bottles. This petition asks the Government to extend the scope of the scheme to glass bottles.

The Government mentions existing DRSs in other European countries in its motivation for the proposed DRS. Many European countries’ DRS include glass bottles. We believe this is for good reason: glass bottles could offer the advantage of being not only recyclable but also directly reusable. Reuse can offset issues with recycling, like the high energy use of the recycling process and the limited number of cycles for plastics like PET. Including glass bottles could also help kick off a culture of reuse.