Deposit Return Schemes: Building an Evidence Base for Scotland

As government intervention in markets with problematic waste streams is more heavily considered, a favoured government-led mechanism is Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). One such example of this is known as the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). DRS is basic in principle: the consumer pays a deposit at the point of purchase and the deposit is refunded when the consumer returns the empty bottles or cans to a retail outlet that operates a takeback system. Such a scheme was proposed for Scotland in 2017, and in 2019 the announcement was made that it would include PET bottles, metal cans and glass bottles for recycling.

FEVE (The European Container Glass Federation) commissioned us to review the potential impact that the inclusion of glass in this scheme may have on the glass sector. We began by reviewing the documentation produced by the Scottish Government on the proposed recycling DRS and then developed the evidence base - either supporting or challenging the statements made.  In order to do this, we drew on the schemes currently in operation across Europe (including stakeholder interviews), sales data from GlobalData, recycling data from Eurostat and more general literature captured through desk-based research.  Our full findings have been published by FEVE and can be accessed using the link below.