The Welsh government is dropping plans to include glass from wine and spirits in its deposit return scheme, in a compromise move aimed at allowing the 2027 rollout of DRS across the UK.
The Grocer understands negotiations, which have eased slightly after Labour’s victory in the general election, have been going on for weeks, and have resulted in a compromise agreement which would keep soft drinks, ciders and beer bottles within the scope of DRS in Wales.
The Welsh government hopes the scheme will allow it to stick to the timeframe of the UK government and will still tackle pollution for beer bottles discarded on the move , which is sees as a key priority to include in DRS.
However, sources warned the compromise deal itself risked causing chaos and would still lead to a system across the UK that was not interoperable.
In April the government announced it planned to launch DRS across the UK in October 2027, after plans for the launch in 2025 were scrapped. But it admitted it faced an uphill battle to try and persuade the Welsh government to drop its plans for glass to be included.
Producers have warned of huge extra costs and bureaucracy from having different systems in place. In May The Grocer revealed retailers and drinks suppliers were threatening to slash the number of products they supply to Wales if the country goes ahead with plans to include glass in its scheme.
Senior industry figures told The Grocer they believed there was a “genuine threat” many suppliers would radically reduce their ranges in Welsh stores, whilst some retailers may even decide it is not worth selling drinks altogether.
Until this week the Welsh government had insisted it could press ahead with a scheme including glass without applying for an exemption under internal market powers, which saw Westminster torpedo last year’s planned launch in Scotland.
But it has now signalled it will apply for an internal markets act excemption but suggested it is willing to drop wine and spirits from the deal.
One source warned that Wales having a different system risked causing chaos and a bitter row between different sectors of the industry.
“Wales are signalling that they will stick with DRS timelines , they still want glass to be included but only for soft drinks, beers and ciders,” the source said.
“Brewers be raging and it will still completely derail efforts to create a common system for GB.”
”It is a compromise and in some ways it’s a sensible development but if they only let beer, cider and soft drink in, you still have a scheme that’s not interoperable and you have a system were small brewers suddenly have to deal with being in EPR In England and other countries and then somehow have to cope with DRS in Wales.
“It doesn’t alter the central challenge which is for businesses and their supply chains you have to have absolute interoperability across all markets
”You cannot design your businesses to have one system in Scotland or England and somethig completely different in Wales. That’s disastrous and no DRS system will be able to cope with that.”
Another source told The Grocer: “This is something that has been being negotiated for a while and it appears a compromise has been reached.
“The main issue the Welsh government has is with beer bottles, because a lot are consumed on the go and dumped, whereas collections for wine are well established and spirits represent a small amount of the bottles on the market.”
Another source added: “Whilst this is a partial backtrack, it is very big news for the future of the DRS rollout.”
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