Supermarket bosses and drinks manufacturers have put their differences to one side to launch a multimillion-pound bid to run the UK’s first deposit return scheme, The Grocer can reveal.
The bid, which was submitted in time to meet Defra’s 3 February deadline, would, if it is approved, see a raft of household name retailers and drinks companies, as well as trade bodies, become responsible for setting up a DMO (deposit management organisation) to launch and run the scheme.
It has been overseen by accountants PwC and would-be board members include a raft of major retailers, plus the likes of Coca-Cola, AG Barr and Lucozade Ribena Suntory.
This week’s move was described by a leading source as a “big step forward” for DRS following the government’s announcement last week that it is pushing ahead with plans for an October 2027 rollout in England and Northern Ireland, with Scotland due to follow suit.
However, it is understood that despite retailers and drinks manufacturers coming together for the DMO submission, including raising substantial bank financing to underpin the bid, huge differences remain over their commitment to the scheme timeline.
As revealed by The Grocer last month, supermarkets have called in ministers to agree to another delay to DRS. They claimed the withdrawal of Wales from a UK rollout and the subsequent lack of an interoperable scheme made the timeline “not feasible”.
Retailers have also urged ministers to take a step back because of the risk of the costs of DRS pushing up prices as the UK faces renewed pressure on food inflation.
However, sources told The Grocer the row over timing had not been enough to derail the bid. They said they were hopeful the industry would now unite around the scheme.
“The application has gone in,” a source told The Grocer. “Everybody is involved and was able to sign off the application, which includes all the major producers and retailers.
“It’s in the public domain that a lot of huge retailers have some very clear concerns about the rollout and everybody has concerns about how Wales can be engaged.
“The detail that’s in the application reflects everyone’s position.”
The source added: “There’s a lot of work to be done.”
Defra has said it hopes to officially appoint a DMO in April. It would be responsible for setting fees, overseeing material flows and preparing the industry for the scheme, estimated to cover approximately four billion plastic and 2.5 billion metal drinks containers across the UK.
Today it claimed the bid from large quarters of the industry showed “strong support” for its plans for an October 2027 launch.
But that was strongly contradicted by retail bosses, who said vital decisions on the DRS infrastructure in stores were effectively paralysed by the lack of a UK-wide system.
“Retailers are continuing to work with producers to establish the organisation to run the deposit return scheme, however there is still no certainty on how the industry can run a scheme in England whilst Wales is no longer aligned with the UK approach,” said Naomi Brandon-Bravo, sustainability policy adviser at the BRC.
“The October 2027 deadline was already challenging when the four nations were aligned. The decision by the Welsh government to drop out of the unified approach to DRS has now made decisions on investment and rollout of the infrastructure almost impossible at this stage.
”It’s been disappointing Defra doesn’t want to sit down with retailers and find a compromise so that a workable scheme can be delivered for customers on day one. Instead, it appears committed to deadlines that don’t account for the change in circumstances since the plans were first announced.”
Meanwhile the fallout from the debacle over the collapse of Circularity Scotland, the scheme administrator set up to run Scotland’s planned pioneering DRS scheme, continues to cause huge ructions. A judge last week allowed waste giant Biffa to push ahead with a £166m legal claim against the Scottish government over the failed scheme, amid claims of ministerial negligence.
The BRC has warned of a repeat of the Scottish fiasco if ministers insist on “pushing ahead regardless” with the October 2027 deadline.
However, there has been more positive news in Ireland, which this week celebrated a year since the launch of its scheme, with figures released by its operator Re-Turn revealing that 900 million bottles and cans had been returned since the scheme was introduced.
Since the scheme’s launch, Re-Turn’s network of deposit return points has increased by over 800 with 2,600 “reverse vending machines” and 470 manual return points across Ireland.
Sources said it showed what could be done in the UK if the industry throws its weight behind the scheme.
“The submission of the application to be the scheme operator for the deposit return scheme is a huge step forward in making DRS a reality,” said Reloop UK and Ireland director Sarah Horner.
“We congratulate industry for coming together to support this. I am sure their customers will appreciate that they will be taking big steps to tackle litter, as well as helping the reuse of valuable resources.”
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