The Welsh Government have been given the green light to press ahead with plans to introduce its own Deposit Return Scheme in Wales, which includes glass.

The UK Government has granted the Welsh Government an exemption to the Internal Markets Act, which allows them to go ahead with a deposit return scheme that diverges from that being introduced in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

Under the Welsh scheme, glass containers will be included in the materials in scope from day one, but will only begin to have a deposit charged on them from 2031, while the deposits for containers made from aluminium, steel and PET plastic are still scheduled to come into effect at the same time as the wider UK scheme in October 2027.

ACS has previously raised concerns about the inclusion of glass within the scheme due to the additional costs and operational challenges faced by retailers.

ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “We support the introduction of Deposit Return Scheme across the UK but the decision to include glass containers in Wales will result in additional costs and operational burdens for local shops, and confusion for customers who will have no incentive to return glass containers to shops until 2031. Extended time periods to prepare and a taskforce for operational alignment are welcome, but it will still leave retailers footing the bill for investing in more expensive infrastructure to collect and store glass containers."

Figures from British Glass show that glass is already one of the most recycled forms of packaging in the UK, with around three quarters of all glass being recycled.

The full announcement confirming the UK Internal Markets Act exemption is available here

ACS is currently preparing detailed guidance for retailers on the introduction of DRS, which will be launched at the Safe and Responsible Retailing Conference on 18th March. More information about attending the conference is available here