Plastic recycling: Shoppers in England to pay more for plastic bottles

People in England will soon have to pay more money when they buy drinks bottles and cans as a way to boost recycling and cut waste.

There will be an extra fee for some products - but shoppers will get their money back if they return the container it came in to be recycled.

The scheme is expected to cover plastic bottles, single-use glass containers, and steel and aluminium cans.

The full details, including how much the extra charge will be, still have be agreed and finalised.

Countries such as Germany, Norway and Sweden have a similar system, called a Deposit Return Scheme, and it helps those countries recycle over 90% of their plastic bottles.

The government announcement comes after the Blue Planet II series highlighted the threat of ocean pollution and showed footage of wildlife eating plastic.

Around 13 billion plastic drinks bottles a year are used in the UK but more than three billion are not recycled.

Scotland has already announced plans for a deposit return scheme and Wales has launched a study to consider it.

People who support the idea say the 5p cost put on single-plastic bags shows how well schemes like this can work - use is down 83%.