Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change
and Rural Affairs, : I have been engaging extensively with
stakeholders to bring forward a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) that
delivers for Wales. These include the drinks industry, retail and
materials sectors, environmental organisations, and the UK
Government-appointed Deposit Management Organisation (DMO),
alongside colleagues in the UK, Northern Ireland, and Scottish
Governments. These discussions have reaffirmed the importance of
a DRS that delivers tangible benefits for Wales, while maximising
interoperability across the UK.
Wales has a proud record of leading the way on recycling and our
DRS is being developed to build on and not detract from this
success. In planning these next steps, we are therefore focused
on ensuring that it will complement the collective efforts
households, businesses, local authorities, and industry partners
have made across Wales. In doing so, we are drawing on the
world's best schemes, where reuse is already delivering
real-world benefits for businesses and consumers alike.
I am grateful for the positive and constructive
collaboration we have with industry, which is helping to
shape the scheme in a way that is both ambitious and practical.
While Wales has remained consistent with the previously agreed
UK-wide approach, I have listened carefully to industry's
concerns about the risks that come about as a consequence of
there no longer being a single approach that works for the whole
of the UK. This is not a situation of the Welsh Government's
making, as it stems directly from decisions taken by the previous
UK Government to depart from the agreed approach of a DRS that
included glass. I recognise however the importance of
taking action to avoid unintended consequences and take these
issues seriously.
We have heard clearly from industry that the scenario where a
scheme is introduced in the other parts of the UK, with no scheme
in place in Wales, carries the greatest risk of operational
complexity and associated costs. I have therefore set out to
industry that we are willing to accelerate our implementation
timetable to align with the rest of the UK, which would provide
for interoperability between common materials.
Glass remains in scope of our scheme, as this means that in
Wales, we will be able to begin to roll-out reuse as a core part
of the scheme. It also means we can continue to improve glass
recycling against our baseline performance - by improving on the
go recycling - whilst tackling the littering of all forms of
drinks containers. With surveys by Keep Wales Tidy in
2023-24, showing drinks-related litter on 43.6% of Welsh streets,
with the presence of glass bottles more than doubling in four
years, broken glass poses growing safety risks, especially in
parks, play areas, and coastal locations. Tackling this issue is
therefore central to our commitment to our communities and in
line with the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act will
ensure our scheme delivers for our communities and for the
environment.
I recognise the need for clear arrangements to ensure there are
no unintended consequences caused by the difference in scope.
Specifically, industry have highlighted the need for a phased
approach within which there would be no requirement to have
different labelling and no fraud risk, as this would also prevent
consequential impacts on current production and distribution
arrangements. This represents a practical and pragmatic solution
which we will therefore work to incorporate within the scheme.
Going forward, we will continue working closely with industry and
local authorities to deliver a scheme that is simple,
scalable and fair, one which supports businesses to take
advantage of the opportunities of reduced material costs and
ensures no one is left behind. In doing so I am conscious of the
wider issues impacting upon the sector, particularly SMEs, and we
are therefore working with them to ensure there are sensible
arrangements such as exclusions for low volume products.
With independent analysis setting out that moving to a circular
economy could unlock £3.8 billion in savings for the
Welsh economy, while creating green jobs, driving innovation, and
building resilience in key sectors — this is an important
economic opportunity. In bringing forward a scheme that
supports the roll-out of reuse, we are not only ensuring our DRS
is future-proofed and will deliver tangible benefit for the
people of Wales — we will also continue to play an important role
in helping to shape a more coherent and sustainable approach for
the whole UK.
For the DRS in Wales, reuse is not just an ambition — it is
essential to delivering further progress. I welcome the positive
approach from industry in working in partnership to deliver a
better, greener future — not just for Wales, but for all.
