Original article by Sarah Horner was published in Circular.
As geopolitical battles are fought for resources, deposit return systems could unlock the financial and environmental benefits of a Circular Economy.
Resources have always gone hand in hand with human development. It is theorised that the development of language enabled early trade in flints and rocks 40,000 years ago, with evidence that certain stones were prized and treated with special significance, and sometimes exchanged between tribes. Up until the Industrial Revolution, the main challenge was the difficult task of extracting resources, but this balance shifted as extraction became easier. This, however, often led to overexploitation, exhaustion and even extinction.
Ideas of circularity have been discussed in industrial contexts as far back as the 19th century, with thinkers such as William Stanley Jevons and, later, Walter Stahel raising concerns about resource depletion and waste. Of course, many groups – including Indigenous ones – have long lived in harmony with their environments and had no need for measures to protect them. As soon as the Industrial Revolution began in Britain, however, so too did cases of environmental protection in law. Extended producer responsibility was first mooted a century ago.
During World War II, we became very aware of the battle for resources. The brutal war in the Atlantic, during which many suffered gruesome deaths, was ultimately about securing the materials without which Britain could not have carried on. Scrap became prized and communities rallied to funnel resources to the war effort. In the boom years that followed, however, new generations only knew plenty, and a seemingly never-ending supply of things to consume.
Capturing resources
We have, in a way, come full circle. The rising cost of living is being felt across the world, and we are aware of becoming poorer rather than richer. We know first-hand the preciousness of energy supplies, and how modern life can be easily and frighteningly disrupted.
Colonialism was driven by the capturing of resources, and the new geopolitics – led by China, Russia and the US – is also driven by the securing of supply. President Trump recognises the hollowing out of America’s industrial heartlands by globalisation, and that China’s ‘belt and braces’ policies of the past two decades have resulted in it making big inroads on most continents, securing food and materials to fuel China’s economic boom. Trump is now scrabbling to secure the US’s place in this battle for resources. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was initially fuelled by Putin’s desire for its resources, under the disguise of nationalism.
While Europe has long enjoyed a privileged position, it has been largely sidelined in this global scramble. There is one major lever still within its grasp, however: the materials within its own borders.
That is where the circular economy comes in. There is growing recognition of the value of reusing waste materials, keeping materials in use for longer, and regenerating natural systems. For the UK, it offers an opportunity for leadership and development.
Beyond the environmental benefits
The economic case for reusing resources is equally compelling. A more circular approach offers major financial benefits, including job creation, increased investment opportunities, and reduced costs for businesses and local authorities. Crucially, it also helps secure access to the raw materials that are becoming increasingly scarce and contested. Research suggests that the transition to a circular economy could generate $4.5tn in additional global economic output by 2030.
For example, the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) will be launched in the UK in October 2027. Research by Eunomia found it could create between 3,000 and 4,000 jobs, including high-paid, skills-based roles in counting centres and reprocessing facilities, with employment increasing as collection rates rise towards a targeted 90 per cent.
Reloop recently produced a document on the benefits of DRS that shows, across Europe, the highest-performing systems divert millions of tonnes of containers from the waste stream. In the UK alone, our What We Waste dashboard shows that in the next two years – before the DRS is set to begin – around 17 billion drinks containers will go unrecycled. That’s valuable material, and money, being lost.
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What We Waste Dashboard
Data dashboard drawing on expanded data from 210 countries to examine trends in sales, collection and wastage of drinks containers.
The dashboard also shows that over the past decade (2015–2024), 82.1 billion glass, metal and PET beverage containers were wasted in the UK, representing a material value of £659.8m.
With a deposit system in place, producers gain reliable access to high-quality, food-grade materials that reduce the need for expensive virgin material. Happily, many businesses and trade bodies in the UK recognise this and support its introduction.
Gateway to a Circular Economy
Recent analysis by Reloop on the impact of deposit return systems on litter reduction shows that, globally, they reduce beverage container litter by more than half (on average). According to one Eunomia study, litter costs UK local authorities approximately £660m every year, with packaging making up more than half of that total.
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Littered with evidence: Proof that deposit return systems work
Report drawing on litter composition data from more than 100 jurisdictions, to show the positive impact of deposit return systems.
The UK’s Deposit Return Scheme will:
- Reduce litter clean-up costs and support the ambition of the Plastic Packaging Tax. Current recycling schemes make sourcing sufficient quality waste-plastic material difficult.
- Generate a clean stream of materials by collecting and managing bottles in a way that minimises contamination.
- Encourage a shift in public perceptions of used materials as items with value.
Analysis has found this supports a sector towards which investors deployed capital of more than £1.3bn in the UK in 2023, a 50 per cent annual increase, across 184 investments.
The Deposit Return Scheme can be the gateway to a circular economy in the UK by demonstrating proof of concept. The collection of empty drinks containers visibly shows to businesses and consumers that these have value. It shows how designing systems to recapture materials can create jobs, attract investment, reduce costs and strengthen resilience, all of which can support the value of other circular economy policies. It also connects us with a deeper truth – that our resources are not infinite, and their value should not be casually discarded.
Britain, the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, has a chance to lead again – this time by building an economy that values what it already has.
