The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has urged the Welsh Government to exclude glass from its Deposit Return Schem (DRS), highlighting that time is running out for it to appoint a Deposit Management Organisation (DMO) to run the scheme.
With less than 15 months away from the introduction of DRS in the rest of the UK, the Welsh Government’s failure to appoint an administrator means no decisions have been made on how the day-to-day operations will work or what type of repayment retailers will receive for hosting a return point.
ACS has claimed that the timing of these decisions is reaching a critical point, as the proposed scheme in Wales is far more complicated due to the inclusion of glass along with PET and metal containers. Retailers taking part in the scheme would otherwise have to invest in far more expensive ‘soft drop’ reverse vending machines, or have to deal with the potential for broken glass going across the till point as part of a manual return approach. In addition, glass containers would not have a deposit attached on launch, meaning retailers would face increased complexity and costs without any additional financial support.
The trade body has written to sustainability minister Llyr Gruffydd MS, raising serious concerns about a lack of progress on the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme in Wales, and urging the Welsh Government to exclude glass from the scheme to ensure it remains workable for local shops.
ACS chief executive Ed Woodall said: “It is crucial that Welsh Government urgently appoints a Deposit Return Scheme administrator in order to give businesses the time they need to prepare. Retailers in the rest of the UK are starting to make decisions now about how they’ll take part in the scheme next October, so any further delay in confirming the details of the scheme in Wales will leave Welsh businesses falling behind.
“We firmly believe that the best chance for DRS to be successful is for the scheme to be interoperable across the UK, and urge the Welsh Government to make a sensible, practical decision to avoid unintended consequences for retailers, consumers and producers alike.”
