Glass industry warns Welsh recycling plans are “unworkable” and faces double charging
The UK glass industry has raised urgent concerns over the Welsh Government’s plans to include glass within its upcoming Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), warning the policy is “not practically feasible” in its current form and could leave domestic producers facing unfair costs and regulatory confusion, as well as hampering the scheme delivery for other materials.
Sheffield 16 June 2026
While an exclusion to the UK Internal Market Act (UKIMA) principles has been agreed to allow Wales to include glass as well as metal and plastic under the scheme – due to launch in October 2027 – industry bodies, including British Glass, say it is increasingly unlikely that a workable agreement can be reached in time.
As the industry goes into ‘crunch talks’ with the new Welsh Government, British Glass is calling on policymakers to recognise the growing risks and to take corrective action that is in the best interest of Welsh businesses and citizens before implementation.
“As it stands, the policy is heading towards a situation where the glass provisions simply cannot be delivered effectively,” said British Glass policy adviser Jenni Richards. “We are supportive of high recycling ambition, but the current model raises fundamental practical and legal challenges, whilst removing the supporting policies for recycling and reuse of glass in Wales.
“There is now an opportunity for Plaid Cymru to make a decisive difference by reconsidering glass within the scheme and helping to ensure a system that is both workable and genuinely world leading.” Added Jenni.
Double charging for producers
One of the most immediate concerns centres on the potential for producers placing glass on the market to be charged twice under overlapping waste management schemes.
Under current proposals, producers in Wales could be liable for both Extended Producer Responsibility (pEPR) fees and the upfront costs of establishing the DRS system until October 2027. British Glass understands that, without intervention from the Welsh Government, double charging is inevitable.
“Producers selling their products in glass beverages containers in Wales would end up paying twice for the same material collection. That is clearly unsustainable”, says Jenni.
Although ministers have previously indicated that glass beverage producers may not be required to contribute directly to DRS set-up costs, the mechanism for funding glass collection infrastructure remains unclear until a DMO is appointed.
Legal concerns under UKIMA rules
There is also concern that the Welsh Government may have inadvertently breached the conditions required for exemption under the UK Internal Market Act.
The introduction of glass collection targets before the end of the agreed transition period could mean that only Welsh producers are legally bound to comply, allowing competitors elsewhere in the UK to avoid contributing.
“If this isn’t corrected, you effectively have a system where there may only be Welsh businesses footing the bill,” said Jenni. “That creates a clear market distortion and raises serious questions about compliance within UK internal market principles.”
Beyond legal and financial risks, fundamental questions remain about how the scheme will operate in practice. Recyclers would need to distinguish between glass originally placed on the Welsh market and glass from elsewhere in the UK, something the industry says is extremely difficult to achieve, as well as whether it was part of a beverage or other glass container.
“There is currently no credible mechanism to track glass in the way the proposals would require,” said Jenni. “Glass is collected, sorted and reprocessed in mixed streams. Trying to attribute origin at that level is not feasible and introduces cost, complexity and a high risk of error.”
Loss of circular economy incentives
Most worryingly, the inclusion of glass in a DRS risks undermining existing circular economy mechanisms that currently support high-quality recycling outcomes. At present, the Packaging Recovery Note (PRN) system incentivises the remelting of glass into new containers delivering strong environmental benefits compared with lower value uses such as aggregate.
“The current system encourages closed-loop recycling, which is exactly where we want to be,” said Jenni. “Removing those incentives without a clear replacement, risks pushing material down the waste hierarchy rather than up it.”
Crucially, the industry warns that including glass in a DRS will not make reuse easier instead it could make it harder. By diverting material and investment away from reuse infrastructure and removing existing incentives, the policy risks delaying progress towards a viable reuse system in Wales.
At the same time, reusable packaging incentives tied to reduced packaging EPR fees would also fall away from October 2027, in contradiction to the stated ambition of introducing a glass reuse system in Wales. Without the certainty that the Reuse Regulations would bring (we understand these may be laid around October 2027) around financial incentives, there would be no financial benefit for introducing reuse in Wales.
Additional uncertainty surrounds the Welsh Government’s introduction of “reuse-capable” packaging targets within its 2026 regulations, until a further UKIMA exclusion is granted and the Reuse Regulations are laid. These targets have not yet received UKIMA approval and could therefore apply only to Welsh producers, meaning any resulting obligations would currently fall disproportionately on domestic firms.
“The way the targets are framed is problematic,” said Jenni. “If you increase material use without ensuring reuse actually happens, you risk making the system less efficient. The Regulations focus on packaging that is capable of reuse, not packaging that is actually reused. Without infrastructure, that distinction matters enormously.”
Industry supportive of end goals
As the industry goes into ‘crunch talks’ with the Welsh Government, British Glass will be asking the new Welsh Government to review the end goal for Wales, and whether carrying out Welsh Labour’s plans is really best for Welsh businesses and consumers, and work with industry on how we may otherwise achieve it together.
