The Scottish Wholesale Association (SWA) has expressed its surprise and disappointment over today’s announcement by the Scottish Government that it is to press ahead with proposals for a deposit return scheme (DRS) rather than undertaking the exploratory modelling work it committed to earlier this year.

Kate Salmon, executive director of the Scottish Wholesale Association, said: “This afternoon’s announcement that the Scottish Government will ‘design and introduce a deposit return scheme for drinks containers’ comes before any exploratory modelling work to assess the effectiveness and impacts of a scheme.

“The Scottish Government has reneged on its previous commitment to wholesalers and other stakeholders that options would be put to the public for consultation before ministers reached a final decision on whether or not to support DRS.

“Zero Waste Scotland has admitted that it has done no assessment of how this proposal would impact on Scotland’s food and drink businesses.

“We stand by our view that a deposit return scheme would be impractical and costly for consumers, businesses and local councils.”

Salmon confirmed that the Scottish Wholesale Association will continue to engage with the Scottish Government to try to develop a scheme which minimises the negative impacts on consumers, existing kerbside schemes and businesses.”