Debate with Green Alliance on plastic bottles

Michael Gove’s proposal on a plastic bottles deposit return scheme was debated with Amy Mount from the Green Alliance and James. We need a technological fix, not yet another guilt trip about our ‘behaviour’.

The deposit return scheme is based on adding an extra charge on plastic bottles, and forcing consumers to return the bottles at a recycling machine in order to get their deposit back. Despite this being a headline initiative from the government, it is designed to distract from their chaos and put the focus onto making consumers guilty and inconvenienced. The actual amount of plastic litter discarded to the ocean from the UK is only a small proportion of amount discarded elsewhere. The use of technology to more efficiently remove plastics from the oceans in bulk rather than make individuals feel guilty is given little focus in these discussions.

James questioned the idea Amy put forward that Britain is a global environmental leader and thought it may be a way in which the Green Alliance flatter the government for being leaders rather than somewhat chaotic. The overhead for policing individual behaviour is intensive and extensive compared to industrialised technical solutions that can collect pollution through water outlets to the oceans.

Rather than making people feel guilty when shopping in supermarkets in the UK, we should be collecting litter in bulk through mechanised solutions. Perhaps this is a new way to try and put climate change issues back on the agenda through labour intensive distractions.