UK ministers urged to grant exemption for deposit return amid ‘litter emergency’

Campaigners have demanded the UK Government gives the go-ahead to Scotland’s planned deposit return scheme (DRS) to help deal with a “litter emergency”.

Supporters of DRS spoke out ahead of a planned protest outside the UK Government’s main offices in Edinburgh where they plan to turn up with cans and bottles they collected in a litter pick-up event.

The protest, outside Queen Elizabeth House, comes as the Association for the Protection of Rural Scotland (APRS) accused the UK Government of turning the scheme into a “political football”.

For DRS to go ahead in Scotland, ministers at Holyrood need to be granted an exemption from the UK Government’s Internal Market Act.

The lack of such an ememption was cited by the Scottish Government as a reason for the start date of the scheme, which will see shoppers charged a 20p deposit when buying drinks in a can or bottle, with this cash refunded when the items are returned for recycling, being pushed back from August 16 this year to March 2024.

APRS, which has long campaigned for DRS to be brought,  however said that delays to the scheme would mean more litter on streets, parks and beaches,- estimating that the latest delat will see almost half a billion extra bottles and cans will be littered, landfilled, or incinerated.

Dr. Kat Jones, APRS director, said: “Every day this scheme is delayed, more and more cans and bottles are littered in our towns, countryside, and waterways.

“We have been waiting years for this scheme to be introduced, meanwhile the environmental cost is stacking up.

“We are in the midst of an environmental crisis, yet UK Ministers are treating a basic recycling system as a political football.

“Disrupting the Scottish deposit system will set Scotland’s environment back yet again, and would mean hundreds of millions of pounds of investment will have been wasted. It also risks sabotaging Westminster’s own system, which is due to start in 2025.”

Thursday’s protest will see campaigners turn up at the UK Govenrment offices with bags of littered cans and bottles that were collected last week by the Fife Street Champions.

David Spence of Fife Street Champions said he had collected three bags of rubbish in just over an hour, saying this “shows the extent of the problem”.

Mr Spence said: “We are in a ‘litter emergency’ and the Scottish and UK Governments must take the lead in doing everything they can to stem the tide of detritus that affects us all.

“The Internal Market Act, introduced by the UK Government, gives them the power to undermine any type of action proposed by Holyrood, be it for practical reasons or simply to gain political advantage.

“This must end now.”

Petra Hoefer, a litter picking volunteer with  APRS said: “As a person who regularly litter picks I am extremely disappointed at just another delay to the deposit return scheme.

“While litter picking recently, I collected 400 glass bottles in addition to several bags of plastic bottles and cans.

“The majority of litter I pick is drinks containers, and I believe that a deposit return scheme is the only way to encourage improved recycling of bottles and cans.”

A UK Government spokesperson said: “UK Government ministers received a formal request for a UKIM Act exclusion for the Scottish Government’s Deposit Return Scheme on March 6 2023.

“The Scottish Government has since been reviewing and paused the scheme until March 2024 to allow it more time to address concerns raised by businesses. It therefore hasn’t been possible yet for us to fully assess the impacts of the exclusion request on cross-UK trade, firms and consumers.

“We will continue to engage with the Scottish Government to realise our shared ambition to improve the environment while meeting the needs of consumers and businesses across the UK.”