The president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) charity has said shops should pay customers 10p for every plastic bottle they bring back for recycling.
Emma Bridgewater, writing in the Mail on Sunday, called on the government to introduce a "compulsory deposit" system to battle what she called a tide of plastic bottles thrown away in bins and littering the streets and countryside.
Pottery designer Bridgewater said the success achieved by the 5p charge on supermarket carrier bags should now be extended to stop the dumping of millions of plastic bottles on green land or in rivers and lakes.
She told the Mail on Sunday: “Ten billion plastic bottles are thrown away every year, littering streets and polluting pristine landscapes alike. I want to see this tide driven back.
“The government has already made important strides in cutting our use of plastic bags. Now we must do something similar for plastic bottles.
“I am proposing a compulsory deposit system, such as used to be offered on glass bottles, so that customers have a real incentive to return them for proper and safe disposal.'
Bridgewater said a deposit as low as 10p a bottle would make a difference.
She added: “While we are at it, let's get local businesses to sponsor water fountains in towns and at beauty spots. I am fond of them, and they will eliminate the need for many of those bottles.”