Independent brewers in the UK are calling on Government ministers to delay introducing a deposit-return scheme, pointing to a “shocking lack of details”.
The DRS initiative in the UK is set to be brought into action in October next year.
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There has been backlash from multiple industry players over Wales wanting to include glass in its DRS plans.
The Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (SIBA) said today (19 August) it wants the DRS to be pushed back “for at least a year after a shocking lack of details leave them unprepared”.
SIBA, which represents 700 small breweries across the country, said it had written to Defra ministers, telling them “we now face a ‘Scottish style meltdown of DRS because of Wales’s failure to appoint and administrator or provide guidance on how their separate glass scheme would operate”.
According to the association, the Welsh government has not yet decided on a Deposit Management Organisation, with it having rejected “the one application it received”.
SIBA also suggested the country’s inclusion of glass while the rest of the UK only includes cans and plastic bottles in the DRS could prove problematic.
It said: “No clarity has been provided on how the glass scheme will work and interact with the separate Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme. This could result in small breweries being doubled taxed in Wales.”
The UK signed off the Welsh plans to include glass in their DRS scheme in February. In March, the Welsh Senedd voted in favour of the plan.
In July, trade associations including the The Wine and Spirit Trade Association and The Scotch Whisky Association cautioned the Welsh First Minister Rhun ap Iorwerth about including glass in its DRS.
Five months earlier, industry bodies warned warned suppliers would stop selling in Wales once its recycling scheme is introduced next year.
Scotland tried to launch its own DRS initiative, which included glass, three years ago. However, after its implementation being delayed, the country now intends to implement the same scheme as the rest of the UK in 2027.
“It feels like déjà vu on the Deposit Return Schemes, where a lack of clarity and different rules across the UK doomed the scheme in Scotland before it could even launch,” said Andy Slee, chief executive of SIBA.
“We want to see a DRS that works for all producers and consumers and the simplest way to do that would be to have the same scope and the same rules across the UK.”
