The Scottish Government have today (Wednesday) published a consultation on what the format and structure of a Deposit Return Scheme should look like in Scotland.
The Scottish Government committed to introduce a Deposit Return Scheme in Scotland in their programme for Government 2017-18 and have been working with Zero Waste Scotland on the development of the consultation
SGF chief executive Pete Cheema said: “SGF will work with Zero Waste Scotland and the Scottish Government to ensure that any DRS system is both viable and workable for business retailers. We do not want a compulsory system but one where retailers can choose to opt-in. The system itself should be centrally administered and composed of retail and industry with a balanced ownership across the supply chain.”
ACS' chief executive James Lowman said: "We want to be constructive in helping the Scottish Government to develop a viable system, but we will hold them to account on their clear commitment to recognise the difficulties a deposit return scheme would place on small retailers. Specifically, the manual handling of returned packaging in small stores would raise hygiene risks, add significant time and to transactions and lengthen queues, and would take up space that these stores simply do not have."
"We are pleased that the consultation includes a commitment to work closely with other administrations to develop a coherent UK wide system or co-ordinating separate systems. Operating a number of slightly different deposit return schemes across the UK country would be the worst possible outcome for all parties."
The Scottish Programme for Government, which confirmed the introduction of a Deposit Return Scheme in Scotland, stated " The question of whether this scheme should extend to small retailers - who have specific difficulties that would need to be overcome - will be addressed as part of this process."
