This comes after the government announced in March that the 2022 ‘go-live’ date of the system in Scotland was to be reviewed (see letsrecycle.com story).
A spokesperson told letsrecycle.com today (28 September): “We remain fully committed to implementing Scotland’s ambitious deposit return scheme, which will be a UK first. It will increase recycling and cut littering, and help address Scotland’s contribution to the global climate emergency.”
Scotland initially planned to roll out the system in April 2021, but this was pushed back to July 2022 to allow businesses “more time to prepare in light of the pandemic”.
No date has been set for when the Scottish parliament will hear an update.
Deadline
In the latest consultation for introducing a DRS in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Defra said in anticipates a DRS will be rolled out by “2024 at the earliest”.
This means Scotland could push back the DRS into 2023 and still roll it out before the rest of the UK.
The Scottish government spokesperson added: “Industry has made progress in trying circumstances, including the establishment of a scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland. We recognise that the sectors responsible for delivering those benefits have faced unprecedented disruption over the past 18 months as a result of the pandemic and the issues and uncertainty caused by Brexit.
“That is why we commissioned an independent review to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the go-live date. We will provide an update to parliament and businesses shortly.”
Scope
The plans for the scheme in Scotland were initially put forward in 2019, for an ‘all-in’ model, covering PET plastic drinks bottles, aluminium and steel can and glass bottles, with a deposit level set at 20p.
In May 2020, the Scottish government passed the DRS regulations. The move was criticised by British Glass and the Scottish Retail Consortium, who both called at the time for the implementation date to be pushed back (see letsreycle.com story).
For the rest of the UK, the exact scope is still unclear. Defra could opt for an ‘on-the-go’ approach for smaller bottles only, but campaign groups favour an ‘all-in’ model.
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