Scotland delays DRS until October 2025

The announcement was made earlier today (7 June) by the circular economy minister Lorna Slater. It arrives in light of the UK government blocking the inclusion of glass in the scheme.

Ms Slater said: “I told parliament yesterday that our scheme cannot proceed as planned. The refusal of the UK government alone to budge on glass makes that obvious.

“As of today, it is now clear that we have been left with no other option than to delay the launch of Scotland’s DRS until October 2025 at the earliest based on the UK government’s current stated aspirations.”

Scotland

Scotland has been keen to press ahead with its own system. The scheme was set to go live in July 2022 but was delayed a number of times.

The latest delay will come as a blow to companies who have invested in the system, in particular Biffa, which was named as logistics partner.

Michael Topham, Biffa’s chief executive, wrote to the First Minister yesterday (6 June) urging him not to delay the DRS, which Biffa has already invest £60 million in (see letsrecycle.com story).

However, in recent months a number of large companies have been publicly speaking against the proposals.

It has been reported that compensation claims may now be being prepared by companies which have put money into the system, though this is yet to be confirmed.

This is clearly a disappointing outcome

• David Harris, Circularity Scotland

Administrator

The decision to delay the scheme has been criticised by Circularity Scotland, the scheme administrator.

In response to the decision, David Harris, Circularity Scotland chief executive, said: “This is clearly a disappointing outcome, which will have a significant impact on investment in Scotland.

“We have made it clear that industry was prepared for the Deposit Return Scheme to go live in March 2024, and that a scheme without glass is both economically viable and is an opportunity for Scotland to provide a platform for a UK-wide DRS. Regrettably, further delaying the introduction of DRS will hinder Scotland’s progress towards net zero and mean that billions of drinks containers continue to end up as waste.

“The Board of Circularity Scotland will now consider the impact of this announcement and our immediate priority will be communicating with our people. We will provide further updates in due course.”