ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has welcomed the confirmation of the criteria for which stores can apply for an exemption under the upcoming Deposit Return Scheme, announced today by scheme administrator Exchange for Change.

The DRS regulations allow for retailers in urban areas with a retail footprint of less than 100m² to be automatically exempted from operating a return point for DRS. Exchange For Change has announced an extension of the exemption criteria, allowing for retailers with a sales area of between 100m² and 199m² in urban settings, and rural retailers with less than 200m² of sales area to apply for a size-based exemption. Further exemption allowances have also been agreed on the basis of proximity, heritage or listed building restrictions, site access or lack of access to utilities.

The Deposit Return Scheme will come into force in October 2027, with every retailer in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland needing to make a decision about how they interact with the scheme. While some retailers will be exempted from the scheme, most are expected to provide a return point, either through an automatic reverse vending machine or via a manual takeback service in store.

ACS chief executive Ed Woodall said: “Convenience retailers want to host return points in their stores and help their customers recycle, but the proposed handling payments will leave many neighbourhood retailers as net losers by not covering the costs of collecting, storing and refunding contains. Therefore, we welcome the extension of the exemption criteria and urge Exchange for Change to quickly clarify how retailers can apply for an exemption. It is important that this is a light touch application process and not unnecessarily burdensome for retailers to engage with.”

Exchange for Change recently announced the handling fees for businesses taking part in the scheme. For manual return points, retailers will receive 3p per container returned. For automatic return points, retailers will receive 5p for the first 225,000 containers annually, and the 1.3p for containers returned thereafter (within the same year).

The full announcement from Exchange for Change is available here