The United Kingdom government has presented its legislation for a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for England and Northern Ireland in parliament.
The publication comes a week after Wales pulled out of the joint process for a UK-wide DRS, which would have included the four nations of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.
Wales walked out of negotiations due to issues ‘caused by the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020’ its deputy first minister and cabinet secretary for climate change and rural affairs Huw Irranca-Davies said in a statement.
The Welsh government wants to include glass, alongside plastic and metal, in its DSR scheme but the UK government said doing so would be too complicated and expensive.
Disagreements over the inclusion of glass were the last reason for the scheme’s postponement to 2027. The scheme was first announced in 2018 and was postponed three times.
Despite Wales’ decision, the UK government said it is committed to delivering a DRS across England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, by October 2027.
The legislation for England and Northern England target drink containers between 150 ml and 3 litres in size made of plastic (PET), aluminium, or steel. Scotland is yet to publish its legislation. Wales said it would pursue its own DSR, which would presumably also cover glass containers.
Across the UK, consumers purchase an estimated 31 billion single-use drinks containers each year – 12 billion plastic drinks bottles, 14 billion drinks cans, and 5 billion glass bottles. Collection rates are currently at around 70% to 75%. The governments of the four nations want to increase recycling rates of single-use drinks containers to at least 90%.
“While our drinks container recycling rates languish at an average of 70% in the UK, we can see the clear merits from other countries of a deposit return scheme,” said Jenni Hume, UK and Ireland Director at circular economy non-profit Reloop. “For example, Germany has succeeded in delivering a 98% collection rate through its scheme. While the advantages of including glass bottles are clear, even without this material the environmental benefits of this scheme still vastly outweigh the costs of doing nothing.
“With strong public and political support for the policy, we are pleased that this tried and tested circular economy measure is one step closer to finally being rolled out across England and Northern Ireland, and in turn the wider UK,” she added.
UK’s neighbour Ireland has introduced its DRS in February 2024.