Scotland’s recycling Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) continues to move forward despite concerns from the UK glass industry and 16 supporting organisations that glass should be excluded.
Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, Roseanna Cunningham, has laid draft Regulations in the Scottish Parliament that will create the legal framework for Scotland’s DRS.
The announcement comes only 13 days since British Glass and the 16 supporting organisations issued an open letter to the environment secretary.
The new regulations will see the establishment of a scheme that will include PET plastic, aluminium and steel cans as well as drinks containers made of glass with a 20p deposit.
British Glass CEO Dave Dalton said:
“We are disappointed that the Scottish Government, regardless of concerns from industry, continues to push forward with a recycling DRS including glass.
“We believe that the Scottish Government is bringing in the recycling DRS to tackle a plastic litter issue rather than taking a measured and joined up approach to improving the wider recycling infrastructure. The glass sector will unfairly pay the price for the fight against plastic litter when we believe there is not a glass litter problem.
“Recycling is such an important issue for our sector, both in terms of the circular economy and decarbonisation, so it is vital that we get it right. We do not believe that including glass in the DRS will achieve the environmental goals set out by the Scottish Government. In fact, waste management experts argue that including glass in a recycling DRS would actually reduce the current UK glass recycling rate of 67%.
“The glass sector is fully committed to increasing the amount of glass we recycle and we do not believe that a recycling DRS which includes glass will achieve this. We support a EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) alternative solution where producers pay not members of the public”
In August, a letter addressing issues about the inclusion of glass in a recycling DRS was sent to Roseanna Cunningham with support from the whole glass supply chain.
A copy of the letter can be found on the British Glass website - www.britglass.org.uk/our-work/recycle-more
