Scottish Government proposes deposit scheme for beverage cans to increase recycling

The Scottish Government is planning to initiate a deposit scheme alongside packaging recovery note system in a bid to reduce waste and increase recycling. Research published by the Zero Waste Scotland carried out by waste consultancy Eunomia, suggests the scheme could be a beneficial one.

Minister Richard Lochhead first came across the deposit scheme during a visit to Sweden in 2013 which required customers to pay small cash deposit when buying a beverage can. When the customer returns the can or bottle at a collection point, they get back their deposited money.

While launching the research report last week, CEO of Zero Waste Scotland Iain Gulland said, “Deposit return systems have been used in many other parts of the world to prevent waste and increase recycling. So this new report, which assesses how such a scheme could work in Scotland, is an important contribution to the debate about how we achieve our zero waste goals and move towards a more circular economy.

Packaging Recycling Group Scotland however is not as confident about the scheme as they believe that environmental benefits of the system would be minimal and the system itself will be “costly, inconvenient and confusing” for consumers.

The future of the scheme remains uncertain as of now as the stalwarts of the recycling industry argue the benefits of the proposed scheme or the lack thereof.