Five supermarket giants are now calling for the government to ditch its controversial drinks recycling scheme. Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Waitrose have told the Sunday Mail they don’t believe the deposit return scheme (DRS) can work in its current form.
The three huge retailers are expressing serious concerns and have joined Tesco and Asda who have already denounced the recycling project and called for it to be halted. Campaigners and opposition politicians said Circular Economy minister Lorna Slater should pull the plug before the big supermarkets pull out.
Morrisons Chief Executive David Potts said: “The current timetable for DRS does not set the scheme up to succeed given the lack of clarity on so many key issues. More time is needed to deliver a workable and consistent scheme that enjoys the confidence of consumers.”
Andrew Murphy, Chief Operating Officer at the John Lewis Partnership which includes Waitrose, said: “While we’re committed to cutting down on waste, we have serious concerns over the implementation of the scheme and we’ve expressed these to the Scottish Government.”
A Sainsbury’s spokeswoman said: “Despite our significant investment in Deposit Return Scheme trials over the last few years, we support a delay to the introduction of the Scottish scheme as the current timings are unattainable and critical information is still missing.”
While Morrisons boss Potts said: “We share the Scottish Government’s desire to boost recycling and tackle littering. But the current timetable for DRS does not set the scheme up to succeed given the lack of clarity on so many key issues.
First Minister Humza Yousaf suggested during the SNP leadership campaign that he may make an exemption for small businesses to be excluded from the scheme but the supermarket bosses are now calling for it to be halted and say the launch date of August 16 is not workable.
They have now called on the Scottish Government join with the UK Government’s scheme which is planned for 2025. The DRS will see 20p added to the price of glass and plastic drinks bottles and tin cans which will be refunded to customers when they return the empties to shops.
But small businesses say they can’t afford the fees to sign up to the scheme or accommodate large volume of empty bottles in their shops. Small drinks makers say the cost of new labels for products being sold in Scotland could put them out of business.
Now almost all of the country’s main supermarkets are also calling for a rethink.
Scottish Conservative MSP Maurice Golden said: “The damning verdicts by many of the UK’s biggest supermarkets are a hammer blow for Lorna Slater’s flawed deposit return scheme. She has failed to see from the outset the deeply damaging effect it will have on businesses of all sizes right across Scotland.
“The Green Minister must stop burying her head in the sand and hit the pause button on a scheme that has totally unravelled on her watch. It is time for her to finally listen to businesses rather than openly mocking their concerns as she did to the Green party faithful last week.”
Scottish Labour Net Zero spokesman Colin Smyth said: “This Deposit Return Scheme has descended into a complete farce. The SNP-Green government cannot keep ignoring the growing chorus of voices warning that this current scheme will be catastrophic for businesses.
“Màiri McAllan, Lorna Slater and the rest of the SNP-Green coalition must start listening and fix this chaotic scheme so it works for everyone.”
Former Rural Affairs minister and SNP MSP Fergus Ewing said the government have to halt the scheme now before more money is wasted by firms preparing for it.
He said: “Surely now Lorna Slater and new First Minister Humza Yousaf must do the right thing and halt the scheme right now. Hundreds of small businesses are in a state of fear and alarm over whether they can survive the impacts of DRS, such are the costs and complexity of the scheme.
“Now, added to their voices are those of the supermarkets. Surely if that is what their advice is it cannot be ignored?
“Slater has claimed the scheme is business-led. Those businesses now want to lead the scheme directly into the recycling bin.”
The deposit return scheme has been heavily criticised by small firms and opposition politicians have also raised concerns about the company which runs it. Circularity Scotland was set up to administer the government scheme in 2021 and now has around 50 employees.
After refusing to detail how much its senior executives are paid, a leaked document revealed by a newspaper showed the firm’s CEO Robert Harris was taking £300,000 a year. We revealed how the not-for-profit company is reliant on people not recycling their empty drinks containers to fund its wage bill.
It plans to make at least £57m a year from unredeemed 20p deposits, and will also fund the company through a fee which drinks producers have to pay every year. The company’s overall ambition is to take over the running of the drinks recycling scheme in England and Wales when it is launched in 2025.
Job adverts uncovered by this newspaper showed the company planned to have a £5bn-a-year turnover by running the scheme in the rest of Great Britain, prompting campaigners to say it was using Scotland’s businesses as a test ground for their bigger ambitions. The firm said it was fully focussed on making the scheme work in Scotland.
The Scottish Government was asked if they would now halt the scheme in light of the supermarkets’ interventions.
A spokesman said: “Scotland’s deposit return scheme will be a major part of our efforts to reduce litter, cut emissions and build a greener, more circular economy. We are committed to this important scheme which is a producer responsibility, and continue to work to support businesses to deliver the scheme and to identify further feasible, fair and legal options to support small producers, such as a grace period.”
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