A BURY councillor has welcomed a national scheme which could see people pay a deposit when buying drinks in bottles or cans.

Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, announced the initiative, which aims to boost recycling and cut waste, would be introduced in England, subject to consultation.

The deposit would increase prices, but customers would be able to get their money back by returning the container.

Bury Council passed a motion to introduce such a scheme last year, and claims it was the first in England to do so. At a meeting last July, Cllr Alan Quinn put the motion to the council to support the introduction of a deposit return scheme (DRS) in Bury and to work with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority to design such an initiative.

Under the scheme, bottles could be returned to the original vendor or popped into ‘reverse vending machines’, returning the customer’s deposit.

Welcoming the government’s announcement, Cllr Quinn, the council's cabinet member for the environment, said: “We were the first council to propose this last year. It was an aspiration of ours.

“I went to the Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority and asked all the boroughs to support it. They did and it became policy for Greater Manchester."

In October, Mr Gove announced he was looking at how a DRS could be implemented in England, and Bury Council officers submitted evidence.

Cllr Quinn said he heard about the schemes when his wife, who works for Bury South MP Ivan Lewis, told him someone had visited the MP’s office and mentioned it.

He added: “I looked into how the scheme worked abroad. As the plastic waste debate got bigger, I approached Cllr Shori to say I wanted to do this. I’m proud of what we have done in Bury in leading the way on the environment."

Cllr Quinn added that the council were hoping to call a plastic summit in Bury, to which schools, colleges, and businesses would be invited.