Households paid to take bottles back to Tesco, Asda, Morrisons or Sainsbury’s

A UK deposit return scheme will pay shoppers 20p for each eligible empty drinks bottle or can returned to a collection point, including at supermarkets. Due to start on 1 October 2027 in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, it aims to cut litter and increase recycling.

Shoppers will pay the deposit when buying drinks and receive it back when they return the container; no receipt is needed. The scheme covers single-use PET plastic, steel and aluminium containers from 150 millilitres to three litres, but not glass. Wales is developing a separate scheme and is expected to use the same deposit rate. UK consumers use about 14 billion plastic drinks bottles and nine billion cans each year.