Councillors urge supermarkets to offer reverse vending machines for recycling in Chesterfield

Maggie Kellman, a Lib Dem councillor for Walton, contacted major supermarkets in the area about their plans to put reverse vending machines into their Chesterfield stores.

These machines repay customers a small deposit paid on plastic bottles and will be required by law from 2024.

Coun Kellman said: “There is no reason why these recycling machines could not be introduced straight away.

"These machines have been used successfully elsewhere so why can’t Chesterfield have them now?”

Of 13 billion plastic bottles used each year in the UK, only 7.7 billion (59 per cent) are collected for recycling.

And yet empty plastic bottles can be a valuable resource – recycling just one will save enough energy to power a light bulb for three hours or more.

Coun Kellman said: “We all know that plastic is a serious threat to our natural environment, yet millions of plastic bottles go unrecycled every day.

"It is easy to blame the customer, but the problem is a systemic failure of modern retail.

"Government, retailers and consumers must work together to increase rates of plastic recycling and reduce pollution.”

Lidl responded to the plea by saying it is still awaiting further guidance before action can be taken.

A spokesperson said: “We are committed to delivering high quality and affordable food, which is also good for our planet. We are dedicated to reducing our plastic waste across our product range and have made strong progress across all areas of our reduced packaging target.

“We are still awaiting further guidance regarding the proposed Deposit Recycling Scheme (DRS) scheme for England and Wales before we are able to explore the most efficient solution for our entire business and will take into consideration any details once they are confirmed.”

Tesco has been trialling the reverse vending machines in some of its stores before they are possibly rolled out in other parts of the country.

A spokesperson said: “Trialling reverse vending machines is one part of our efforts to close the recycling loop and prevent plastic packaging from going to waste, through using as much recycled content as possible and using materials that are easy to recycle.

"As a result of these trials, we have collected more than a million bottles and returned £100,000 to customers.

“We will continue to review how best to support DRS and eagerly await further government guidance on its expectations on how DRS should be adopted.”

Aldi has said it is committed to halve the overall amount of plastic it uses by 2025 and remove two billion pieces of plastic from circulation.

The supermarket is still awaiting further instruction on the Deposit Recycling Scheme before it can come to Chesterfield.

A spokesperson said: “A consultation is due next year on the specific details and we plan to participate in that to ensure the scheme is as effective as possible.”