The Welsh government has defied a threat of legal action from Westminster by notifying the World Trade Organization of its intention to push ahead with a deposit return scheme including glass, The Grocer can reveal.
Documents filed last week set out the Welsh government proposals to include bottles and cans made from plastic, steel, aluminium and glass containers of between 150ml and three litres. No deposits are payable by customers on glass under the proposals.
Gaining approval from the WTO is a key requirement for a DRS to go ahead, with Defra having submitted its proposals for England in May last year.
Previously, Welsh ministers said they were blocked from notifying the WTO because of the powers held by the UK government under the UK Internal Market Act.
The move has been welcomed by sources from the drinks industry, who said it was a statement of intent from Wales, ahead of elections in spring.
In July, The Grocer revealed Wales had agreed to accelerate its plans for a DRS launch, keeping alive hopes of a UK-wide 2027 rollout.
However, all eyes will now be on the UK government to see if it seeks to blocks the plans, in a similar move to an intervention that derailed the previous plans in Scotland.
The Scottish government made a request to the UK government for an exclusion for the DRS from the UK Internal Market Act in 2021. After a number of further delays, in May 2023 Westminster agreed to a temporary exclusion under the 2020 Act for Scotland’s DRS but crucially refused to extend it to the exclusion of glass products.
The plans subsequently collapsed.
A source told The Grocer: “It will be really interesting to see how the UK government reacts. As far as I’m aware the Scottish government asked for an exception when it was planning to include glass. I don’t even think Wales have asked for one.
“But on the other hand at least this is a statement of intent to say we’re doing everything we can to make this happen and glass in.
“At least they are not just sitting on their hands.”
The move by Wales comes with negotiations due to resume between its government, Defra and the industry DMO appointed in England, in a bid to try to prevent cross-border chaos with having different DRS systems between borders.
Supermarket bosses claim its insistence on keeping glass in the scheme will drive up costs for retailers and consumers.
Last month BRC director of food Andrew Opie called the plans “antiquated”.
“They risk adding unnecessary costs without delivering clear benefits for consumers or the environment,” he said.
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