Question reference: S6W-15731
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 8 March 2023
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Current status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 24 March 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has carried out an assessment of the impact that the Deposit Return Scheme will have on (a) consumer purchasing behaviours and (b) inflation, and, if so, what assessment it has made.
Answer
Analysis in the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment, published in December 2021, shows that on-the-go drinks purchases are largely driven by consumer convenience, and that switching to large containers in this segment of the market is unlikely.
There are other deciding factors for consumers, such as practicality, convenience, brand preference and presentation of the product. This specific issue was examined by the ECCL Committee in 2019, see Report on the proposed draft Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020 (azureedge.net) .
Additionally, the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) already operates in over 50 other countries and territories around the world. Evidence from these other deposit return schemes indicates that any effect on product or format switching is small, and it is rare that this can only be attributed to DRS.
Everyone who pays a deposit on a drinks container will be able to reclaim that deposit in full therefore that should not have an impact on inflation. In line with the wishes of business, Scotland’s DRS is an industry-run scheme. It is for drinks producers and retailers to deliver the most efficient scheme possible. As an example of this, in December 2022 Circularity Scotland published new producer fees that are 8%, 30% and 40% lower than originally planned for glass, PET plastic and metal containers respectively.