draft Deposit Scheme for Drinks Containers (England and Northern Ireland) Regulations 2024

Parliament voted on 21 January 2025 to approve the draft Deposit Scheme for Drinks Containers (England and Northern Ireland) Regulations 2024, passing the measure by 352 votes to 75. The regulations establish a deposit return scheme (DRS) under which consumers pay a small deposit when purchasing drinks in eligible bottles and cans, which is refunded when the empty container is returned to a designated collection point. The scheme applies to England and Northern Ireland.

The vote advances a long-discussed environmental policy designed to increase recycling rates for single-use drinks containers and reduce plastic and aluminium waste in the environment. Retailers and producers will be required to participate in the scheme, creating a new infrastructure for container collection across England and Northern Ireland. Consumers who return their containers recover their deposit in full, creating a direct financial incentive to recycle rather than discard.

The division followed clear party lines. All 336 Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted backed the scheme, while all 66 voting Conservatives opposed it, joined by all five Democratic Unionist Party members, two Reform UK MPs, and a small number of independents. The Green Party's three voting members supported the scheme. There were no notable cross-party rebellions. The vote sits within a broader pattern of the Labour government advancing environmental legislation in its first parliamentary session, alongside related activity on water quality through the Water (Special Measures) Bill in the same period.