Question reference: S6W-17567
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 2 May 2023
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Current status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 18 May 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the statement by the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity on 20 April 2023, whether it will publish a breakdown of the £300 million of investment into the Deposit Return Scheme.
Answer
Hundreds of millions of pounds of investment to prepare for the launch of the Deposit Return Scheme across a range of businesses and the value of this is now at risk unless an Internal Market Act exclusion is put in place urgently to enable the final preparations for a launch on 1 March 2024.
The exact figures on investment are held by industry themselves but various published estimates suggest that retailers will invest up to £200m, and producers have invested around £100m for the scheme. Alongside this contractors to Circularity Scotland, such as Biffa, will have invested significant funds with some estimating this at around £80m.