Details revealed for Scotland's bottle and can deposit return scheme

12 May 2019

The National   8 May  2019

"SCOTLAND'S new deposit return scheme will include aluminium and steel cans as well as drinks containers made of glass and Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic, Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham has announced.

"The scheme, the first in the UK, will place a return value on items of 20p and will be up and running by the end of the current Parliament in 2021.

"The aim will be to capture 90% of drinks containers for recycling within three years.
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"In a statement to MSPs, Cunningham said the scheme will not include high density polyethylene (HDPE) plastic - primarily used for packaging fresh milk - due to concerns over potential contamination of other materials and odour. This could be added at a later stage if such concerns are addressed.

"A "return to retail" service will be implemented as part of the scheme, with all businesses which sell drinks required to accept returns.

"Smaller retailers, Cunningham said, would be given flexibility in how they enable returns through different sizes of reverse vending machines or manual over-the-counter take-back arrangements."

Read the full report

Other links on this topic

     The Guardian  8 May 2019

     Zero Waste Scotland

     Have you got the Bottle?