The Complexity Of Deposit Return Schemes (DRS)

Brian Lodge - BPF Director of Plastics & Flexible Packaging

When the initial proposals for introducing a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) were announced back in 2018, the UK government had the laudable aims of “increase recycling rates of in-scope containers, increase the quality of recycled material to encourage closed-loop recycling and circularity to ensure materials remain in use for as long as possible, and reduce littering of in-scope containers.” As waste is a devolved issue, each of the home nations have the ability to introduce their own legislation so there is a huge potential for issues if the resulting schemes are different.

The results of the initial government consultation on DRS (1), published in 2021 outlined the main points of the proposed legislation:

• Producers will need to register with the Deposit Management Organisation, paying a producer registration fee, placing a deposit value on top of the price of the drinks, and paying this to the DMO.
• Retailers will have to the deposit price to the purchase price at the point of sale, accept all deposit return containers at their store, and refunding consumers when an item is returned.
• The scheme will include beverage containers from 50ml up to 3 litres made from glass, PET, aluminium, or steel, including those in multipacks.
• Bottles will need to be labelled as being in the appropriate DRS scheme.
• The DMO will be a commercial (non-governmental), not for profit organisation with the responsibility to run the scheme and set the deposit amount (although a maximum amount would be set by government).
• There are various options for retailers to opt out of the scheme if their premises does not allow the safe operation etc.
• The scheme will also cover HORECA premises with some options to opt out as well.

Because of the devolved nature of waste, the four nations have the responsibility to create their own legislation to implement this. Scotland were the first to make progress with a scheme where the DMO will be Circularity Scotland, working in cooperation with BIFFA, which was originally meant to be in operation by August 2023. It was put back to March 2024 but has now been further delayed until October 2025, which is the same time that the introduction is scheduled to happen in the rest of the UK. Circularity Scotland have set the deposit fee at 20p per container, without reference to the size.

Because of the political situation in Northern Ireland, they are working with the UK government to introduce the scheme in tandem with England (2). Wales will be introducing their own legislation (3) but are working closely with England and Northern Ireland to ensure the systems are aligned, even though they will need a bill in the Welsh assembly to achieve this. The plan is for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland to appoint one DMO to administer the scheme, ensuring that alignment, and the legislation will call for them to work closely with the Scottish DMO to ensure as much continuity as possible.

However, there are several issues that remain to be resolved. Firstly, England and Northern Ireland have elected not to include glass in their system, even though it was identified in the initial consultation as being a target for DRS. The Welsh government included glass in their proposed system even though England and Northern Ireland are not.

The Scottish government included glass in their scheme (4) but the main reason that the scheme there was delayed is because the UK government challenged their right to do this under internal market legislation. In the end, they were granted exemption from this until DRS is implemented in the rest of the UK (with the exclusion of glass), and now the Scottish government have put their implementation back to align with everyone else. This delay has led to legal challenges and calls for compensation from several companies over the delayed start date.

There also remains an issue with the open border between Northern and Southern Ireland (5). The southern Irish government is introducing their DRS in early 2024 so the question remains about what happens to items purchased in either country until the system is implemented in Northern Ireland, and after it is, what level of alignment needs to be considered between the two schemes.

1. Introducing a Deposit Return Scheme for drinks containers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland - government response (publishing.service.gov.uk)
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/introducing-a-deposit-return-scheme-drs-for-drinks-containers-bottles-and-cans/outcome/introducing-a-deposit-return-scheme-drs-in-england-wales-and-northern-ireland-executive-summary-and-next-steps
3. https://businesswales.gov.wales/news-and-blogs/news/deposit-return-scheme-2025
4. https://www.gov.scot/policies/managing-waste/deposit-return-scheme/
5. https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/b3f2f-minister-smyth-launches-irelands-deposit-return-scheme/#:~:text=The%20Deposit%20Return%20Scheme%20%28DRS%29%20encourages%20people%20to,retailer%20or%20other%20collection%20point%20to%20be%20recycled.