Why 20p won’t solve our plastic problem

Scotland’s deposit return scheme has been delayed yet again thanks to the now ever-present Covid cop-out, writes Kate Hughes

The amount of debris ending up in oceans each year is severely damaging the environment (iStock/Getty)

My dad was one of those slightly feral 1950s kids who used Liverpool’s Second World War bomb sites as his personal fiefdom.

He still talks about the thrill of finding a glass bottle he could return to the local newsagent for a few pennies. The cash itself didn’t ever touch the counter of course. I think the shopkeeper had a bottle-to-gobstopper exchange rate taped in the window at eight-year-old head height.

For miles around, the ground was picked clean of anything that could be recycled for cash thanks to his knobbly kneed gang. It must have been a scenario played out in every town and city in the country.