Federation of Independent Retailers (the Fed) has welcomed the decision of the Scottish government to cancel the launch of its own deposit return scheme in March and has demanded compensation for retailers who have entered into leasing contracts for machines to process returned bottles and cans.
It will now join other nations in the UK which are excluding glass from their schemes and are planning to launch in October 2025.
Mo Razzaq, the organisation’s national deputy vice president, said: "It makes sense for the Scottish government to decide now to launch at the same time as the rest of the UK, because we are far from confident the deeply flawed Scottish scheme will be ready by its most recent launch date of March 2024. Businesses are angry and seriously short-changed because of the continuing confusion.
“It is essential that retailers in Scotland who have entered into leasing contracts for machines to process returned bottles and cans, are compensated for their losses of around £4,000 a year, in addition to service charges and shop refitting to accommodate the machines," Razzaq added.
"We understand the desire to progress plans combating litter and waste of the earth’s resources but with now only one year between launch in Scotland and launch in the rest of the UK, the case is far from compelling.
"We call on the developers of the scheme for Wales, England, Northern Ireland and now Scotland to avoid the mistakes made in Scotland but still progress as quickly as possible to meet the urgent need for less litter and less waste of the earth’s resources.
“As planning has not progressed well in Scotland, we can see the case for dropping the ambitious objective of including glass from the very beginning. Most other countries in Europe have phased in glass sometime after the launch of the core part of their return schemes.
“ As it takes much energy to produce glass, we would urge the four nations of the UK to consider a scheme whereby drinks companies refill and reuse bottles multiple times rather than sending them to be crushed after one use.”
Brian McLister