AG Barr has announced the end of its 30p glass bottle return after more than 100 years.
From 31 December, retailers will no longer be able to accept the used bottles returned by shoppers in exchange for 30p.
The Scottish soft drinks business has spent £5m on new high speed filling machinery for the glass range and has decommissioned the glass bottle washing infrastructure in its Cumbernauld facility.
The popular 750ml glass bottle line including brands Irn Bru, Cream Soda and Cola will all still be available.
Barr has maintained that the change in the return system will not affect the product price and they will continue to offer retailers the £1 price marked packs.
To help communicate the change to consumers Barr will fully brief retailers and make changes to the bottle labels and in-store point of sale materials in October.
“From the beginning of October information on the change will be carried on the bottle label and we will work with retailers to display materials in their premises to ensure our consumers understand what is planned,” said commercial director of Barr Jonathan Kemp.
The business reported that only half of the sold bottles were being returned back to stores compared to the 90% return rate in the early 90s.
To reduce the environmental impact of the bottle cleaning infrastructure Barr is now encouraging its customers to recycle the glass at home or at an ‘on-the-go’ facility.
“We know how much our consumers love the taste of their favourite soft drink flavours in our iconic 750ml glass bottles. This significant investment allows us to continue to offer our consumers their favourite products in glass, well into the future.” said Kemp.
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