By Scott Wright
THE owner of an Aberdeenshire-based natural soft drinks company has criticised the Scottish Government for what she argues was a failure to adequately consult craft drinks suppliers on the introduction of a major recycling initiative.
A deposit return scheme will go live in Scotland in August 2023 after being delayed because of the pandemic. Designed to boost recycling rates, it will see consumers asked to pay a deposit of 20p when they purchase a drink in a single-use plastic, glass, steel or aluminium container.
Consumers will then be able to get the money back when they return the packaging to one of what is expected to be tens of thousands return points. It is hoped the scheme will result in around two billion bottles and cans being recycled in Scotland every year.
However, Scottish ministers have been accused of failing to take on board the concerns of smaller suppliers when developing the proposals.
Claire Rennie, founder of natural fruit soft drink producer Summer House Drinks, said the Scottish Government’s consultation had primarily focused on the views of major suppliers through the British Soft Drink Association, which she said represents around 90 per cent of the market, without acknowledging the observations of craft players.
“It’s a scheme that is going to impact so many different businesses, but they are only talking to the ones on the surface that it looks like it will affect,” Ms Rennie told The Herald.
“Take the soft drinks sector. I know it is very niche, but there’s probably now 10 craft soft drinks brands within Scotland. It has not hit what the craft beer guys have done, but it is really starting to get some good momentum.”
Ms Rennie expressed frustration that the views of the craft food and drink sector have been overlooked while ministers have taken on board the concerns of more industrial-based manufacturers.
She suggested that the deposit return scheme as it stands was at odds with attempts to promote Scotland as a food and drink tourism destination by celebrating the diversity of its artisanal producers, many of which are based in rural areas.
Ms Rennie said: “What’s frustrating is that the craft soft drinks guys do not put a whole lot of preservatives and chemicals into their products.
“It doesn’t tie-in with the whole good food nation that we are trying to do.”
As reported in The Herald on Saturday, Ms Rennie expressed concern that craft suppliers such as her own would have to pay for empty bottles to be collected from consumers who had purchased products online.
This could involve couriers being paid to travel long distances to return the bottles to Summer House, which she said would increase its costs to the extent her online business would be unviable, and increase the environmental footprint of her operation. Companies that sell soft drinks as part of hampers and florists that sell packages with bottles of Champagne or wine would also be affected in this way, Ms Rennie said.
Ms Rennie, whose firm makes natural fruit-based soft drinks and tonics, said: “There’s not been a lot of thought across the different government departments as to how this will actually impact [smaller suppliers].”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Scotland’s deposit return scheme is a vital part of our response to the climate emergency, and small drinks producers will play an important part. The Scottish Government has engaged proactively with small drinks producers and we are confident that our scheme takes their needs into account.
“Extending the timetable for implementation of the scheme was a direct response to the needs of businesses, including drinks producers, whose preparations were affected by Brexit and the pandemic.”
The Scottish Government estimates that consumers will be able to return empty bottles to one of 17,000 return points across the country.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here