The Scottish Government has announced that the introduction of a
deposit return scheme bottles and cans has been delayed and will
go live across Scotland on 16 August 2023.
The announcement follows an independent review which highlighted
the impact of Covid-19 on the scheme. The scheme was originally
due to be introduced in this year and this was then pushed back
to July 2022 but has now been delayed for a further
year.
Consumers will be charged a deposit of 20p when they buy a drink
that comes in a single-use container made of PET plastic, steel
and aluminium, or glass. The scheme will require all retailers in
Scotland to take back containers and charge a 20p deposit on
eligible containers, refundable on return.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “We welcome the
clarification of the timelines for the introduction of a deposit
return scheme in Scotland, this will allow more time to design
and implement a scheme that will be workable and effective for
both businesses and consumers. This is still a tight timescale
and we all have to commit to working at pace over the next twenty
months.
“There are still a number of important decisions to be made
around handling fees as well as addressing key operational issues
around manual handling and the handling of glass bottles. We will
continue to engage with the Scottish Government and Circularity
Scotland ahead of implementation to communicate the key
priorities of our sector.
The Scottish Government is planning to work with retailers on a
voluntary basis on a phased implementation which will enable
consumers to start returning their bottles and cans for recycling
from November 2022.
The full announcement is available here: https://www.gov.scot/news/scotlands-deposit-return-scheme/
