The UK’s bottle deposit and return scheme (DRS) has faced yet another delay, pushing its launch back to October 2027, four years later than originally planned. The BBC has reported that the delay was primarily attributed to disagreements between the UK and Welsh governments over whether to include glass in the scheme.

Prolonged negotiations

Initially, both Scotland and Wales wanted to include glass in their deposit return schemes alongside plastic and metal, but the UK government opposed this, citing concerns about complexity and costs for the drinks industry. As a result, negotiations prolonged, and the UK government announced that the scheme would exclude glass.

This decision was met with disappointment from environmental campaigners who argued that glass should be included for the sake of comprehensive recycling efforts. The Marine Conservation Society published a “State of Beaches” report which showed 97% of surveyed beaches in the UK were polluted with bottles and cans.

Environment Minister Robbie Moore said “It remains my view that including glass in any UK DRS will create undue complexity for the drinks industry and it increases storage and handling costs for retailers.” 

“With the agreement of Ministerial colleagues across the devolved administrations, the DRS will go live in October 2027.”

With public consultations in 2019 and 2021, all four UK nations have been working together to try and agree a joint approach to the schemes. Research has shown that a comprehensive and harmonised container deposit return scheme across internal territorial borders is optimal.

Glass inclusion or exclusion

Scotland, despite initially planning to include glass, faced challenges due to the UK Internal Market Act. Although an exemption was offered by the UK government, it was contingent on glass’s exclusion, leading to further delays in Scotland’s scheme until at least October 2025.

The Welsh government is standing firm on including glass, which has been attributed to complicating matters and has contributed to the overall delay in implementing the national scheme. This delay has been criticised by environmental groups, calling it a “mockery” of the government’s commitments to addressing plastic waste.

The Guardian writes that UK consumers use an estimated 13bn plastic drinks bottles a year. Only 7.5bn are recycled, with the remaining 5.5bn sent to landfill, littered or incinerated.

Wales’ climate change secretary Huw Irranca-Davies described the comments as a “threat”, claiming the UK government wanted to “restrict our ability to go further and impose a watered-down DRS on Wales”.

Barriers to small trade

Richard Naisby, chair of the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (SIBA) said that to make a DRS work “we need one scheme that is introduced with the same materials, the same rules and on the same day across the UK”. 

“While much progress has been made across the four nations to align the schemes including a de minimis for low volume products, today’s announcement means that small businesses in Wales will be penalised by the political failure to agree the same materials, with Wales the only nation to include glass. This will create barriers for small breweries to trade, increase costs and reduce the choice and availability of independent beer.”

The DRS, which was initially announced in 2018, has faced repeated setbacks. Originally scheduled for August 2023, it has been pushed back multiple times, each delay frustrating environmentalists and campaigners who see it as a vital step in reducing litter and improving recycling rates.

On the Marine conservation Society’s new page, the charity writes “Whilst we are delighted that the announcement in April 2024 from the UK Government highlighted the next steps for implementing Deposit Return Schemes across the UK, the timeline is disappointing. We are also extremely disappointed that glass is still not included in the ambition for England, Northern Ireland and now Scotland too. We applaud the Welsh Government for keeping their commitment to glass and we want to see every other country follow their lead and put glass back on the table.” 

Read more from the Marine Conservation Society here about the announcement.

A news piece from the Guardian can be read here.