One of Nicola Sturgeon’s own MSPs has pleaded with her to halt rolling out the deposit return scheme before it turns into a “catastrophe” for businesses.
An SNP MSP has criticised the policy and called for glass bottles to be taken out of the scheme.
The First Minister rejected the call but suggested that more support could be handed over to smaller producers.
The Scottish Government is rolling out its delayed deposit return scheme on August 16, as it stands.
Under the policy, people will pay a 20p deposit when they buy a drink that comes in a single-use container. They will get their money back when they return the empty container to one of tens of thousands of return points.
Read more: Concerns deposit return scheme will create unlawful UK trade barrier
But concerns have been raised by businesses over the project – with the Scottish Grocers Federation calling for a complete blueprint by the end of the month to avoid further delays and the impacts being passed onto customers.
The reverse vending machines for the scheme will allow co-mingling of aluminium and plastic but not glass.
It will have to be collected in a separate container with only natural breakage allowed or, if mechanically broken, the pieces must be verified to be larger than 10mm.
Greens circular economy minister, Lorna Slater, previously confirmed the “full business case” for the deposit return scheme “was developed on the basis of glass being collected whole”.
Falkirk Council is to stop collecting glass in kerbside cycling after the scheme is rollout out after officials forecast the system will cost the authority £234,000.
Read more: Retailers demand blueprint to get deposit return scheme back on track
Outspoken SNP MSP, Fergus Ewing, told the First Minister that hundreds of businesses “are in a state of fear and even despair” over the plans.
He added: “Some will close, some will fail and others will no longer sell their own produce in their own country of Scotland.
“First Minister, unless halted now, this scheme which most businesses believe to be fatally flawed, will damage the reputation of Scotland as a place to do business.
“Therefore, First Minister, will you instruct a pause of this disaster of a scheme before it becomes a catastrophe?
“Will you order a thorough and independent review of how better to achieve its aims and exclude glass from the scope, as the top six nations in the world on glass recycling have done?”
In response, Ms Sturgeon said the Scottish Government “will continue to listen to and engage with businesses”.
She added: “Scotland Food and Drink recognised this approach when they said in recent weeks these changes mean that some of our key respects have been accommodated, which is positive, and means our collective effort has materially improved the implications for many businesses.”
The First Minister rejected calls for glass to be withdrawn from the scheme, but suggested that more help could be made available for smaller businesses.
She said: “In terms of glass, there are 44 countries and territories operating deposit return schemes, only four of them don’t includes glass.
“Of course, it is the case there are strong environmental reasons for including glass but of course, on all these issues, we will continue to listen.
“One of the issues I am particularly concerned to consider further if there is yet more we can do to reduce any impact on small producers, because I think some of the concerns that have been raised there are not unreasonable.
Read more: Greens minister Lorna Slater lobbied by industry 48 hours before delaying deposit return scheme
“So we will continue to take a responsible approach listening to the concerns of business and responding responsibly in the face of them.”
Conservative MSP Maurice Golden said that the policy “should be gradually phased in”.
He added: “You need to do that on a product basis for that to make sense and then you eventually get to where you want to go.”
Mr Golden said that the “vast majority of industry back the concept” but that “a lot f small businesses are genuinely worried”.
He added: “Small retailers can request an exemption however they face reduced footfall as customers gravitate to stores where they return their containers- they also have to share their sales data with competitors who are involved in the scheme.
“Being part of the scheme means making a loss on the handling fee as well as investing in storage solutions.”
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel