Any decision by the Republic of Ireland to exclude glass from their deposit return scheme (DRS) is a matter for them.

The Full Business Case Stage 1 for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), published on 8 May 2019 (pp36-37), considered the costs and benefits of including glass within the scheme and concluded that glass should be included due to the substantial environmental and economic benefits. The Scottish Government remains fully committed to this position, which is also that taken by the Welsh Government.

Our best and final estimate of the number of reverse vending machines (RVMs) that will be required to operate Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) is 3,021, as set out in Table 2 of the amended final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) published on 15 December 2021. At the time of drafting the amended final BRIA, Circularity Scotland Ltd (CSL) confirmed that this matched their estimate.

We have had no further discussions with CSL regarding any estimated numbers of RVMs since that time and do not recognise the figure of around 5,000. Although it is entirely appropriate for CSL to continue to update its own assumptions regarding key parameters for DRS, our best and final estimate prior to implementation remains unchanged and we have no intention to further revisit the amended final BRIA.

Our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) is an important part of our response to the global climate emergency and the member is right that our scheme will be ambitious by international standards. The implementation date of 16 August 2023 was determined after extensive industry engagement and based on feedback from an independent Gateway Review and we consider it to strike the right balance between being stretching and also being deliverable .

As set out in the answer to S6W-07830 on 29 April 2022, we have had no further discussions with Circularity Scotland Ltd regarding any estimated numbers of reverse vending machines since the publication of the amended final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment for our Deposit Return Scheme, and do not recognise the figure of around 5,000.

. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Setting and paying the handling fee is a matter for return-point operators and the scheme administrator, as provided for by regulation 11 of the Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020. That is in line with the principle of industry leadership of the scheme, and the Scottish Government is not involved in this process.

We are committed to continuing to work with COSLA and Local Authorities to meet Scotland’s ambitious waste reduction and recycling targets, to promote a circular economy and tackle the climate change crisis.

In May we will publish a consultation on a route map outlining how we will deliver our 2025 waste and recycling targets in a way that maximises carbon saving potential to 2025 and beyond. As part of the development of the route map, we have looked at high performing recycling systems across the world, including Wales. COSLA and local authority representatives have been involved in pre-consultation development of the route map. We have dedicated, regular forums with Local Authorities and COSLA to progress our shared waste and circular economy objectives.

We also continue to work closely with all four UK administrations to deliver packaging Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) reforms, which will tackle excess packaging, and help fund improved local recycling collections of packaging waste from households.

When calculating this increase, it has been assumed that the additional return points are manual return points, which have a lower cost than those with reverse vending machines.

Zero Waste Scotland carried out an intensive data-gathering process to arrive at the figure of 17,000 which remains our best and final estimate of the number of return points, prior to implementation. Although we modelled the figure of 37,000 to provide a sensitivity analysis for the economic case for our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), we are confident that we have identified all the larger retail sites, and if these additional return points did exist, they would overwhelmingly be manual return points. Circularity Scotland Ltd, the scheme administrator for our DRS who provided the figure of 37,000, agrees with this assessment.

The Scottish Government is clear that deposit return schemes (DRS) are a form of extended producer responsibility (EPR). Therefore, producers will not have to purchase Packaging Waste Recycling Notes (PRNs) or Packaging Waste Export Recycling Notes (PERNs), or pay producer fees under packaging EPR once that is operational, for containers collected through our DRS. We are working with the other UK administrations to legislate to give effect to this position.

On the member’s questions regarding quantity and quality of glass collected through our DRS, I refer him to the answer to question S6W-07104, answered on 18 March 2022. Increased quantity and quality of glass cullet means more glass available to go to re-melt and we would expect Scotland’s glass industry to benefit from this economic opportunity.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The cost increases within the model are not proportional increases. There may be additional collections but there is also additional capacity within the system.

The economic model underpinning the figures in the amended final Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment takes account of a number of factors and costs and benefits do not necessarily increase in proportion to the change in input.

The modelled cost increase reflects the likelihood that there will be additional capacity within the system for return points to handle additional containers and the possibility of an increase in the frequency of collection rather than requiring additional reverse vending machines (RVMs). This would lead to additional running costs and staff time but not costs for additional RVMs. The scheme administrator is responsible for setting a suitable logistics schedule with retailers at an agreed frequency for the collection of materials, aligned with the capacity of the RVM and individual store requirements.