Supermarket bosses today warned the UK government it is risking a repeat of the Scotland deposit return scheme debacle by “ploughing ahead regardless” with its plans, despite growing fears over the economic impact of the scheme and lack of UK-wide political support.
MPs last night voted in favour of legislation to introduce a DRS in England and Northern Ireland from October 2027, despite the Conservative party – which first introduced the idea eight years ago – coming out in opposition of the “anti-growth” proposals.
The vote came a week after The Grocer revealed supermarket bosses were calling for the October 2027 start date, first set by the previous government, to be postponed because of the economic situation and the withdrawal of Wales from a UK rollout.
With its large Commons majority, Labour won the vote to back the DRS regulations, which were laid before parliament in December, with a 352 to 75 majority.
Environment minister Mary Creagh said DRS would reduce littering, boost recycling, help protect wildlife and “begin to turn back the plastic tide”.
She said Labour was determined to push ahead with DRS where the Conservatives had “dithered and delayed”.
However, in another remarkable twist to the troubled scheme, the Conservative Party has now come out in opposition to the plans. It warned they were part of a a “barrage” of anti-growth policies from Labour that it said would burden businesses with extra costs and drive up retail prices.
The Tories first introduced plans for DRS in 2017, under then environment secretary Michael Gove. It announced the current proposed October 2027 start date only last year.
The withdrawal of support from the Conservatives comes as another blow to DRS, with sources warning of a backlash from the right wing media.
Supermarket bosses accused ministers of refusing to listen to the legitimate concerns of those who would be central in running the scheme.
“We support the delivery of a deposit return scheme but the government needs to listen to legitimate concerns about implementation rather than just ploughing ahead,” said Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the BRC.
“The current approach risks running into the problems we saw in Scotland, which everyone wants to avoid. It is particularly disappointing the government has not taken us up on our offer last year to sit down with retail experts, understand our concerns and work together towards a feasible implementation date which avoids disappointment for consumers on day one of a DRS.”
Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith told yesterday’s debate the government’s own impact assessment showed the scheme would have a net cost to business of £288m a year, describing the plans as an “anti-growth measure”.
“That would be another unsustainable cost heaped on to business, which would be an unwelcome addition to the growing headwinds on enterprise that this government has created,” he said.
“It’s a highly regressive cost burden that would disproportionately hit those on the lowest income.”
Despite the loss of cross-party backing for the scheme, on top of the Wales pullout, supporters of DRS said they believed it could still go ahead as planned in 2027.
One source said that with a regulatory framework now in place yesterday’s vote was an “historic moment”.
Scotland, which was forced to ditch its plans for a pioneering DRS system in 2023, leading to the collapse of administration body Circularity Scotland, has already started the process of amendments to its regulations to align with the plans in England and Northern Ireland.
Meanwhile, sources said talks over setting up a scheme administrator, or DMO, in England and Northern Ireland, involving a bid by leading drinks companies, trade bodies and retailers, was “progressing well”.
Bids for the DMO are due to be submitted by 3 February and approved by April, though sources have admitted that the continued opposition of retailers makes the outcome of the process “much more difficult”.
However, Sandy Luk, chief executive at the Marine Conservation Society, said yesterday’s vote was a “fantastic win for our seas”.
“With plans already in motion in Scotland and the Welsh government exploring an ambitious scheme to include reuse, this is a great step towards schemes starting across the UK in October 2027.”
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