The Scottish Parliament has legislated to introduce a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for single-use drinks containers, the first DRS in the UK. The key aims of the DRS are to reduce litter and greenhouse gas emissions, increase recycling, and shift costs of recovery of drinks containers away from local authorities and on to producers.
Find out more about the Deposit Return Scheme at the Scottish Government website (gov.scot)
The initial launch date of the DRS was to be in July 2022. However, the Scottish Government introduced legislation (The Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Amendment Regulations 2022) to delay the launch date from 1 July 2022 to 16 August 2023, citing the Covid-19 pandemic and EU exit as reasons for the 2022 launch date being impractical. More recently, a revised launch date of 1 March 2024 has been proposed.
On 7 March 2023, the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee agreed to take evidence on the DRS. The Committee agreed to hear from the Scottish Government and the Scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland Ltd. The aim of these sessions was to understand more about the Scheme's readiness ahead of its launch and to understand progress in implementing the Scheme.
The Committee continues to engage with the Scottish Government regarding the implementation of the Scheme ahead of the revised launch date of 1 March 2024.
The Committee held an evidence session with the Scottish Government.
The Committee held an evidence session with senior representatives of Circularity Scotland Ltd.