The process, led by Exchange for Change, will appoint providers capable of managing the movement and treatment of returned drinks containers across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The tender is understood to cover key operational functions, including the collection, transportation and processing of materials captured through the scheme.
It has been issued to a defined group of suppliers who have already been assessed and selected following a three month market engagement process.
A spokesperson for Exchange for Change commented: “Exchange For Change has launched a major competitive tender for Material Processing and Logistics services to support delivery of the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).
“These procurements are critical to achieving the planned go‑live date of October 2027 and will require the mobilisation of substantial national infrastructure across the collection, counting, and sorting of in-scope materials.
“We have gone out extensively to the market to establish an integrated partner programme, combining logistics and processing into a single end‑to‑end solution.
“This aims to simplify delivery, accelerate implementation, and strengthen our ability to meet the October 2027 go‑live milestone, with a planned contract award in July 2026.
“Extensive market engagement has been undertaken to inform this investigatory analysis and provide a clear view of current market conditions across processing, logistics, and collections.
“Initial engagement began in 2025 focusing solely on logistics and was expanded in February to encompass all three market segments (collection, counting, and sorting).
“Potential partners have welcomed the integrated solution model, and there is confidence in the timelines required to establish or repurpose processing facilities ahead of the 2027 launch.
“Overall, the response from the market has been both constructive and encouraging.”
Deposit Return Scheme
The UK’s DRS is scheduled to launch in October 2027.
The scheme will apply to drinks containers that are “likely to be used only once or for a short period of time” and have a capacity between 150 millilitres and three litres.
Materials in scope include aluminium, steel and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic, with containers still included even if their lids are made from other materials.
Under the regulations, all participants in the drinks supply chain – including producers, importers, wholesalers and retailers – will be required to apply the deposit when selling in-scope drinks. Containers must also carry specific scheme labelling.
Items included in the DRS will be excluded from extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR), avoiding overlapping obligations for producers.
Exchange for Change
Exchange for Change is the not-for-profit Deposit Management Organisation (DMO) established to design and deliver the DRS across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The body is responsible for overseeing the scheme’s operation, including setting the deposit level, achieving collection targets and issuing guidance to both businesses and consumers as implementation progresses.
Recently the organisation has also outlined an exemptions framework for reverse vending machine (RVM) requirements.
Under this approach, retailers in urban areas with a retail space of less than 100 square metres will be automatically exempt from hosting a return point.
Find out more about the policy and regulation updates, technology and infrastructure, and consumer engaging ahead of the introduction of the scheme at the Deposit Return Scheme Conference on 30 April 2026 in London.
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