The government has selected and named an industry coalition to run the country’s Deposit Return Scheme for single-used plastic and metal drinks containers in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The UK Deposit Management Organisation (UKDMO) is a business-led non-profit group that will develop and operate the scheme. Executives from firms including Tesco, Coca-Cola, Heineken and Co-op will help run DMO, which aims to tackle the 6.5 billion drinks containers discarded each year, with such containers making up 43% of all litter.
While precise details of how the scheme will run have yet to be determined, from October 2027 consumers will have to pay a small deposit when they buy a drink in a single-use steel, aluminium, or PET (polyethylene terephthalate) container holding between 150ml and three litres. On returning the empty container to a collection point, most likely at a supermarket or similar location, consumers will receive their deposit back.
If all this sounds familiar to readers with the luxury of a few extra years of life under their belts, it’s because a near-identical scheme operated for glass from the 1950s to 1980s, with shoppers receiving a ha’penny (later 5p) when they returned a bottle back to an off licence.
A proposal to include glass in the DRS had been put forward by Wales, but concerns that including glass would add complication and expense due to the implications of handling and processing vast numbers of glass bottles at collection points and further downstream, saw that proposal dropped, with Wales pulling out as a result.
UKDMO will be responsible for designing the Deposit Return Scheme, and has begun engaging with governments and businesses, plus consumer and environmental groups. The scheme is expected to create 4,000 jobs and bring £1.13bn of industry investment over the next three years.
More information can be found at UKDMO’s shiny new website.
