The Welsh government will include glass as part of its deposit return scheme (DRS), abandoning its plans to align with the rest of the UK.

The controversial deposit return scheme, whereby consumers would be offered cash or vouchers for returning empty drinks containers that will be recycled, has been delayed a number of times.

In April this year, the governments of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland agreed to work on a ‘consistent policy framework’ to implement schemes with a UK-wide approach.

The governments hope the DRS will be fully operational across the UK by October 2027.

However, a new statement released by Huw Irranca-Davies, deputy first minister and cabinet secretary for climate change and rural affairs, confirmed that the Welsh government would ‘not able to proceed with the joint process’ to pursue aligned DRSs across the UK.

Irranca-Davies said Wales would develop its own scheme, with the inclusion of glass. UK-wide efforts had excluded glass due to staff safety and storage concerns.

The statement said: “In partnership with the UK and devolved governments, we have been working to initiate a joint process to appoint the Deposit Management Organisation for our respective schemes later this month.

“However, in the time available, it has not been possible to address the issues to the operation of devolution caused by the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020, inherited by the UK government from the previous administration. This unfortunately means that we are not able to proceed with the joint process or notify the WTO [World Trade Organization] in relation to the scheme at this point.”

Irranca-Davies said the Welsh government’s “active engagement with industry has highlighted that there are currently a range of views on how best to achieve the transition to reuse”.

Trade body UKHospitality believes the move to pursue a separate scheme could increase cost and complexity for businesses.

‘Extremely disappointing’ 

David Chapman, executive director of UKHospitality Cymru, said: “It’s extremely disappointing that the Welsh government has abandoned the collaborative effort to develop aligned deposit return schemes across the UK.

“Successful deposit return schemes will deliver maximum alignment and interoperability between nations. That unfortunately now looks further away than ever with this decision.”

Chapman warned that a separate scheme would also make the aim of “improving recycling more difficult and could lead to a reduction in products available in Wales”.

He called on the Welsh government to “carefully consider all cross-border issues” during the creation of its own DRS to ensure an easy transition for local businesses.

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