Question reference: S5W-35780
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 5 March 2021
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Current status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Ben Macpherson on 8 March 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what progress there has been in implementing its deposit return scheme.
Answer
The Scottish Government recognises the unique and significant pressures that COVID-19 and EU Exit have placed on industry over the past year, including the businesses with responsibility for implementing Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).
Despite this, industry has made good progress towards implementing the scheme, including the recent establishment of Circularity Scotland Ltd as a not-for-profit industry body seeking to operate as a DRS scheme administrator. This is a significant step forward, which demonstrates the industry’s collective commitment to move ahead with the scheme.
At the time that the DRS Regulations were passed, the Scottish Government committed to closely monitor the impact of the pandemic on implementation of DRS. Given the significant disruption caused to relevant sectors over the past year, we have decided to commission an independent gateway review to assess the impact of the pandemic on the go-live date for the scheme.