North staffs Green Party have joined the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE) in calling for more to be done to encourage recycling.
The charity has given a cautious welcome to government plans to introduce a deposit return scheme in England on the grounds that it will reduce littering and drive up recycling rates.
However, they have expressed concerns that 'vested interests' in the packaging and waste management industries could get the plans, which are currently out for public consultation, watered down.
Figures produced by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs earlier this month show the rate for recycling by UK households rose from 45.2% in 2016, to 45.7% in 2017.
Overall the UK generated 222.9 million tons of waste, 85% of which was produced in England, out of this 104.0 million tons was recycled, and 52.3 million tons went to landfill (DEFRA figures, 2016).
CPRE have asked supporters to join them in putting forward a set of 'Golden Rules' for what a good deposit return scheme should look like to Environment Secretary Michael Gove.
These include ensuring the scheme is UK wide, is accessible to all, boosts the recycling sector and works with other initiatives to reduce waste.
North Staffs Green Party Campaigns Coordinator Adam Colclough said: ' public awareness of the problems caused by packaging waste and waste in general has never been higher. We fully support CPRE in taking action on an issue that is massively important to the health of our environment'.
The Green Party campaigns to limit the negative impact on the environment made by human activities, this includes developing an efficient national recycling scheme and working towards the creation of a zero-waste economy.
The party supports a deposit return scheme for drinks containers and harder to recycle and harder to recycle items such as batteries.
Mr Colclough said:' Now more than ever we need a national recycling scheme that is efficient, easy to use and that works for communities and businesses alike'.
