this has been a significant week for the UK’s deposit return scheme (DRS) and its administrator Exchange for Change. The release of the retailer handling fees was, as one source puts it, the moment it “all became real” and, as the Scotland experience proved, could have been the point where the wheels started to come off.

Instead, whisper it quietly, it looks more and more likely DRS will launch in the UK, if not by the October 2027 deadline, then pretty soon thereafter.