Scottish Grocers’ Federation Calls for Clarity on Proposed Introduction of Deposit Return Scheme

Today, the Scottish Grocers’ Federation called for clarification about the arrangements for the proposed introduction of the deposit return scheme (DRS) in Scotland, this follows the recent decision by the UK Government to agree to a temporary exclusion under the UK Internal Market Act 2020 which would enable the Scottish DRS to launch ahead of the rest of the UK.

SGF chief executive Dr Pete Cheema OBE said:

“Scottish Grocers’ Federation are committed to a fit for purpose, deposit return scheme and will continue to play our part in that process.

However, following the recent decision by the UK Government to allow an exemption from UK Internal Market Act (IMA) for the Scottish deposit return scheme and our subsequent group call along with other industry representatives with the Minister for the Circular Economy on 30th May, it will be essential that both Scottish Government and UK Government provide further clarity and certainty around what the future implementation of the scheme will look like as a result. From an industry perspective, the proposed removal of glass from the DRS will help simplify and streamline operational processes, as will the moves to standardise the deposit charge, bar codes and labelling across the UK and arrangements around scheme membership.

However, with the requirement now for nationwide UK SKU’s, the producers of scheme articles will now have to review their decisions around range reduction for the Scottish Convenience Market, this will have a massive impact on the sector in terms of time to re-implement and re-range delisted SKU’s.

All of this will require a complete reset of the scheme. It needs replanning, it will require to be refactored and re-costed. Compensation will however be required for the changes, for example it is not simply a matter of removing glass from the scheme given that many businesses will have made significant investment decisions and signed up to contracted commitments such as reverse vending machines. Indeed, the Scottish Government should have sorted the many outstanding issues with the scheme well before now, such as arrangements for price-marked-packs, VAT, online takeback and of course the required exemption from the IMA. This would have potentially avoided unnecessary expenditure.

Given the extent of the changes being put forward, it would in our view, be necessary to review the current scheme implementation date of 1st March 2024, so as to enable those participating in the scheme, sufficient time to prepare and adapt to the new requirements. This would also provide an opportunity to resolve the outstanding issues for a simpler PET plastic, aluminium and steel can scheme.

It is quite evident, that in order for the Scottish DRS System to be re-aligned with Westminster, it requires the UK Government to pass its own regulations, which have not been done to date.’’

SGF sit on the Scottish Government’s DRS Ministerial Strategic Assurance Group and the DRS Retailers Sector Specific Working Group and also represent the largest number of return point operators.