ACS has responded to the publication of the retail handling fees for the upcoming Deposit Return Scheme in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, warning that thousands of retailers will not be able to cover their costs if they host a reverse vending machine.
After consultation with the industry, DRS scheme administrator Exchange for Change has published the following rates of the retail handling fees:
Manual return point: 3p per container
Reverse vending machine: 5p per container for up to 225,000 containers returned annually, and 1.3p per container for annual returns in excess of 225,000 containers
Modelling by ACS in consultation with the convenience sector suggests that the fixed costs of providing an RVM in store are likely to run beyond £10,000 a year, which would mean that retailers would have to see returns of at least 4,000 containers a week/208,000 containers a year to break even. As there are many factors influencing the return rate on a store by store basis, ACS has warned that there will be stores that see return rates of between 2,000 and 4,000 containers a week and will lose money every year as a result of participating in the scheme. Exchange for Change have recommended that businesses seeing more than 2,000 containers a week returned should opt for an RVM due to the complications of manual handling at those volumes.
ACS chief executive Ed Woodall said: “Hosting a return point should be cost neutral for local shops, but the handling fees announced today will mean some neighbourhood convenience stores will be net losers under the deposit return scheme or force them to run burdensome manual return points.
“Convenience retailers want to be part of the scheme and providing those services in their community, but they should not be financially punished for doing so. We hope that Exchange for Change will continue to look closely at the handling fees to optimise the network of return points for customers and all convenience retailers.”
Exchange for Change have also confirmed that the Retail Handling Fee will be reviewed in early 2027 to account for new data from producers and retailers. ACS has urged Exchange for Change to increase the handling fee each year to keep pace with increases in the employment costs associated with scheme logistics in store.
To date, the Welsh Government has still not appointed a scheme administrator for DRS in Wales, despite also setting out an October 2027 go live date. There is currently no indication of the retail handling fees that would be set in Wales.
The full release from Exchange for Change is available here.
