Deposit return scheme: gateway review report - March 2023

6.0 Background

Aims of the Programme

6.1 Scottish Government are introducing a deposit return scheme (DRS) for single- use drinks containers, to help improve quality and quantity of recycling, reduce litter and achieve our climate change targets. DRS will be among the most environmentally ambitious and accessible in Europe, including tens of thousands of return points for plastic, metal and glass containers, as well as pick-ups for online deliveries.

6.2 The aims of the Programme are to:

• Increase the quantity of target materials collected for recycling.
• Improve the quality of material collected, to allow for higher value recycling.
• Encourage wider behaviour change around materials.
• Deliver maximum economic and societal benefits for Scotland.

Driving force for the Programme

6.3 For 2021, the Scottish household waste recycling rate was 42.7% against at 2020 Scottish Government target of 60% and an all-waste target of 70% by 2025. Currently, Scotland recycles around half of drinks containers. Scotland's Deposit Return Scheme aims to capture 90% of target containers for recycling. At a 90% capture rate, Scotland's Deposit Return Scheme will capture 1.95bn containers per year. Emissions will be reduced by 160,000 tonnes of CO2e each year. The scheme could reduce litter by a third. The wider impacts of litter cost the Scottish economy and society £361 million per year. Deposit return will mean better recycling. More bottles and cans will be recycled into items of the same use or quality – like bottles being recycled back into bottles. An extra 52,800 tonnes of glass will be recycled.

Procurement/delivery status

6.4 Final regulations on Scotland's DRS were passed into law in the Scottish Parliament on 13 May 2020. Circularity Scotland Limited (CSL) was appointed as the Scheme Administrator (SA) in March 2021. Applications for retailer exemptions and voluntary return points opened on 1 January 2023, through the Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) portal. Producers' registration began on the 1 January 2023, and is achieved either through CSL or SEPA. Return Point Operator (RPO) registration opened on the 1 March 2023. Scotland's DRS is currently scheduled to go live on 16 August 2023.

Current position regarding previous assurance reviews

6.5 Previous Gateway Reviews were carried out June 2021(Red status); September 2021 (Amber-Red status); May 2022 (Amber-Red status) and the last in October 2022 being as Assurance of Action Plan (Amber status).