Small drinks producers may be given a one-year exemption from the planned Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), Circular Economy Minister Lorna Slater has said.
Her comments come as SNP leadership candidate Kate Forbes has said she would put the scheme on hold in response to a “wave of concern” from business.
Meanwhile, her rival Humza Yousaf has said he would go ahead with a similar exemption to the one being considered by Slater, if he becomes first minister.
The DRS is due to begin on 16 August and will see shoppers pay an extra 20p when purchasing drinks in a can or bottle, with this deposit then returned to them when they bring back the empty container for recycling.
Industry figures argue it would impose potentially fatal costs on their business and create a trade barrier between England and Scotland, but environmental campaigners say it will cut carbon emissions and reduce litter.
Slater was asked about the views of the SNP leadership contenders on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, where it was put to her that the scheme would not be going ahead in its original incarnation.
She said: “Oh, it’s definitely going ahead, so Humza Yousaf was really clear that he absolutely supports the scheme and industry investment is such that we have great momentum building toward the August launch.”
Slater said she had been discussing the DRS with industry leaders and was aware of the request from small producers for a grace period.
She said she was “actively considering” a one-year pause for small producers.
All relevant businesses will need to contact the scheme’s administrators Circularity Scotland by Tuesday to register, she said.
The Scottish Government has announced a £22m package to help small producers with the costs of the DRS.
Forbes is the Finance Secretary but is on maternity leave from her government role.
Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, she said: “The wave of concern needs us to pause, review the pressures and look at this in the context of businesses who are at the moment overwhelmed.
“Businesses in food and drink particularly are seeing their energy bills go up exponentially.”
Yousaf told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show he would exclude small businesses from the first year of the scheme.
The Scottish Conservatives have written to the three leadership candidates urging them to pause the scheme and carry out an independent review.
Scottish Conservative MSP Maurice Golden said: “Drinks producers, wholesalers and the hospitality industry in general would have had their head in their hands listening to Lorna Slater’s shambolic and clueless interview.
“It’s mind-boggling that the minister in charge of the deposit return scheme should be telling businesses she is ‘actively considering’ a grace period for small firms, just hours before Tuesday’s deadline for them to sign up to it.”
The Scottish Greens said they were against any pause, with MSP Mark Ruskell saying: “Any suggestion of a halt or delay to the deposit return scheme would be totally reckless and irresponsible.
“Automatic return machines are already being installed by retailers across the country and the scheme is creating over 500 green jobs, with recruitment already well under way.”
Dr Kat Jones, director of the Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland – which is running the Have You Got The Bottle? campaign, warned that a phased launch “risks significant confusion”.
She said: “The Scottish system is no different to the modern systems in operation and being introduced across Europe.
“Improving how the system works for small business is welcome, but this is no time to listen to the siren voices of those big businesses who want the costs of their business model to continue to be paid by our countryside, our local authorities, and out climate.”
Meanwhile, the Scottish Tourism Alliance (STA) has challenged whoever becomes Scotland’s next first minister to halt controversial proposals to curb drinks advertising, warning they will be “nothing short of devastating”.
The organisation has sent an open letter to the three candidates vying to replace Nicola Sturgeon as both SNP leader and Scottish first minister.
The letter has the backing of the 27 bodies that are part of the STA, representing all strands of Scotland’s tourism industry.
The groups involved - including the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions, the Association of Scottish Self-Caterers, the Camping and Caravanning Club, the Scottish B&B Association, the Scottish Tourist Guides Association and the Scottish Wedding Industry Alliance - said they were writing to the candidates in “complete unanimity… in opposing the Scottish Government’s proposals on a blanket ban on alcohol advertising and sponsorship”.
It comes after the Scottish Government launched a consultation which considers banning alcohol sponsorship for both sports and live events.
The consultation, which runs until 9 March, could also see distillery and brewery shops barred from selling branded merchandise to visitors, as well as drinks branding being removed from pub umbrellas and glassware.
Companies in the drinks sector have already voiced their concerns about the proposals – which could involve a ban on all outdoor advertising of alcohol, including on vehicles, and a ban on adverts in newspapers and magazines.
Companies such as the Budweiser Brewing Group, Lanson Champagne, Diageo, Whyte & Mackay and Tennent’s Lager joined together with other firms to urge ministers not to “destroy Scotland’s drinks industry”.
STA chief executive Marc Crothall branded the proposals “ill-conceived, high risk” and said they could deliver “self-inflicted damage to swathes of Scotland’s communities”.
He warned that the proposals could impact on Scotland’s standing as a “globally attractive visitor destination, through consequences we can only hope are unintended”.
The letter, which also has the backing of the Federation of Small Businesses, Green Tourism, Hostelling Scotland, the National Outdoor Events Association, Sail Scotland, the Scottish Country Sports Tourism Group and the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, points out that businesses in the tourism sector “continue to live with the fallout and consequences of Brexit” – and warns that the “scale of economic self-harm would be similar”.
It claims the proposals could see “some of Scotland’s premium industries crippled in global markets at a time of monumental pressure” and warns that they could “compromise our country’s appeal and attractiveness as a global tourist destination”.
The groups also warn of an impact on jobs, saying that “premium alcohol producers” support tens of thousands of jobs in both urban and rural areas.
Such companies “do more to promote Scotland and its products to the world than any other industry or organisation”, the letter states, describing them as an “an integral part of the tourism and hospitality economy, providing a magnet of attractions for visitors from all over the world”.
Some 2.16 million visits to distilleries took place in 2019, the STA stated, with two in every three visitors to Scotch whisky visitor centres coming from overseas.
The letter says that whisky tourism is the “main form of income” for some rural and island communities in Scotland.
It continues: “Not only are distilleries, craft breweries and visitor centres a key part of community wealth building, they are the main source of employment in hundreds of Scotland’s rural and island communities. In the majority of these locations, there is no alternative employment.
“The impact on employment would be devastating for a significant number of Scotland’s communities with subsequent mental and social health issues attached to that.”
Overall it says that the “impact on the local and national visitor economy will be nothing short of devastating”.
The letter states: “Hotels, self-catering, retail, attractions and hospitality venues all depend on a flow of visitors to Scotland.
“This would effectively cut off an economic pipeline for communities all over Scotland.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson responded: “The Scottish Government is consulting on views on the most appropriate next steps in reducing alcohol-related harm, which is one of the most pressing public health challenges that we face in Scotland.
“The consultation is open until 9 March and no decisions have been taken.
“The Scottish Government is meeting a number of stakeholders during the consultation period to hear directly from them, including producers, retailers and the hospitality sector trade bodies.”
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