Deposit Return Scheme

On 18 February 2019, DEFRA published a consultation proposing the implementation of a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) in England, in conjunction with the devolved administration in Wales and DAERA in Northern Ireland.

The proposal is to focus the DRS on drinks containers - glass bottles, plastic bottles and cans - with a deposit paid when a drinks container is purchased which is then redeemed when the consumer returns their empty drinks container to a designated return point. This has proven successful in other countries, particularly in Scandinavia and Germany, and the objective is to increase recycling and reduce the littering of drinks containers included in the scheme. .

The first stage consultation responses were published in July 2019 and the next steps were set out in August 2019 to:

1. Seek primary powers to implement deposit return schemes in the Environment Bill
2. Hold a second consultation in 2020 on the regulatory framework for introducing a DRS through secondary legislation
3. Following the second consultation, introduce a DRS from 2023

The second stage consultation opened in March 2021 and closed on 4 June 2021, having been delayed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic but it is presently unclear as to whether the implementation will be delayed by a year.

In Scotland a DRS scheme was approved by the Scottish Parliament on the 13th May 2020 for implementation in March 2022 comprising an 'all in' model (i.e. all sizes of drinks containers) covering plastic bottles, aluminium and steel cans and glass bottles with a flat rate deposit of 20 pence (£0.20).

This consultation is running in parallel with the Extended Producer Responsibility and Consistency in Recycling Collections in Englandconsultations.

Consultation Response

It was initially believed the government would publish its responses to the consultations by the end of October 2021, however due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the deputy director for resources and waste at DEFRA said at RWM the way forward will be published "later this year or early next"