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This article was taken from Issue 71

Kerbside sort versus co-mingled; reward schemes or PAYT; weekly collections or AWC; incineration versus, well, no incineration: divisive issues are part and parcel of the UK waste scene, and once battle lines are drawn, it often seems as though there’s little room for compromise. Nowhere is this more true than with deposit-refund schemes (DRSs), an issue that occasionally rears its head and engenders very strong opposing opinions indeed. The issue is so contentious, in fact, that the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) quashed (or embargoed for five years, anyway) a Defra-commissioned report on DRSs for fear it would invite an ‘unwelcome debate’ into the established Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) system. But more on that report in a moment.