Bottle Deposit Scheme for glass resisted by WSTA

The UK government is exploring a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) aimed at reducing plastic packaging.

UK consumers go through an estimated 13 billion plastic drinks bottles a year, but more than three billion are incinerated, sent to landfill or left to pollute our streets, countryside and marine environment.

To tackle this blight, the government has confirmed it will introduce a deposit return scheme in England for single use drinks containers. It is still considering whether glass bottles should be included in the scheme.
The Wine And Spirits Trade Association (WSTA) is against the inclusion of glass bottles in the scheme. Chief executive Miles Beale said “The WSTA has long argued that there is no evidence to support the inclusion of glass in the deposit return scheme. What is clear is that including glass drastically increases costs, which ultimately will end up being paid for by the consumer.

The DRS will introduce a 3.3p surcharge per bottle, which, when added to the 20p refundable deposit per bottle, if added to glass wine bottles, would push the average bottle of wine up from £5.84 to £6.08, a rise of some 4%.