'Making it up as they go along' – Caithness businessman hits out at 'badly handled' deposit return scheme
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The Scottish Government has been accused by a Caithness businessman of constantly moving the goalposts over its controversial deposit return scheme.
It emerged yesterday that the scheme cannot continue in its current form, after a to-and-fro between governments in Edinburgh and London.
Lorna Slater, minister for green skills, circular economy and biodiversity, told the Scottish parliament on Tuesday that the SNP-Green government was urgently seeking a "way forward".
The deposit return scheme (DRS) would effectively place responsibility for collecting and recycling bottles onto the manufacturer, rather than the consumer. It would involve customers paying a 20 pence deposit, which could then be refunded at collection points which businesses would be required to install.
But the plans have been beset with problems, and it now appears that the scheme will need to effectively be redrawn from the bottom up after sparking huge criticism from businesses and politicians.
Martin Murray, who along with his partner Claire, runs Dunnet Bay Distillers, said the whole thing has been “badly handled” and failed to take the needs of small and rural businesses into account.
He said: “There has been so much uncertainty since the beginning of this process, and the Scottish Government seems to have just made up things as they have gone along with it.
“I’m all for them creating new initiatives and improvements to the way that Scotland performs, but that needs to be based on proof and well thought out solutions.
“They’ve constantly changed the goalposts as this has gone along, and the last thing that small businesses need right now is more uncertainty.”
Mr Murray stated that it has cost the firm's environmental manager four weeks of work to be able to put things in place for the DRS – work which could now be wasted.
He added: “We’ve invested time and resources into trying to get things ready for this, and the whole thing has not taken small or rural businesses into account.”
Meanwhile, Alex MacDonald, co-founder and commercial director of North Point Distillery in Thurso, said the row over DRS had turned into a “war of politics”.
He added: “As a small business owner there is a degree of a sigh of relief but a dark foreboding about what the future holds.
“DRS was not the right scheme to push ahead. DRS in its current form does not take into account the craft drinks industry in Scotland which is the biggest driver of tourism.
“We see little to no value in DRS when we are a sustainable organisation that uses 100 per cent recycled glass already.”
Ms Slater was speaking at Holyrood in response to a topical question from Conservative MSP Liam Kerr, asking the Scottish Government "whether it plans to commence its deposit return scheme on March 1, 2024?”
She told him: “It is clear that Scotland's deposit return scheme in the scope and form passed by this parliament cannot go ahead as currently planned.
“Over the last 10 days and right now we are urgently establishing to what extent there is a way forward for a modified scheme, its scope, terms and timescales.”
The DRS has been beset by criticism almost from the first with the government and Ms Slater in particular singled out for scorn for rebuffing warnings from industry and forging ahead with plans many said would damage Scotland’s vital drinks trade.
The scheme fell foul of the UK government, which granted exemptions to the Internal Market Act but stipulated that it would not allow glass to be included.
UK ministers subsequently rejected First Minister Humza Yousaf's call for them to rethink the decision to exclude glass, when he warned Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a letter that the scheme would be in "grave danger" without glass included.
Last week, the UK government approved a partial exemption to the Internal Market Act for Scotland's DRS, but stipulated glass could not be part of it.
Speaking in the Scottish parliament on Tuesday, Ms Slater said: “Due to the eleventh-hour intervention by the UK government to change the parameters of Scotland’s deposit return scheme, both to remove glass from the scheme and to add significant uncertainty around essential parts of the scheme, it is clear that Scotland's deposit return scheme, in the scope and form passed by this parliament, cannot go ahead as currently planned."
She added that she would require "timely, stable and reliable assurances" from the UK government, as well as support from industry for an alternative scheme.
“I'm writing to the UK government today, to ask for an urgent discussion about conditions. I will update parliament at the earliest opportunity, with the outcome of these actions and what that means for Scotland's deposit return scheme.”
Andrew McRae, Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) Scotland policy chairman, said: “This was a well-intentioned, but fundamentally flawed, scheme. As time went on, it became apparent it wasn’t going to work in its current form and was going to damage small producers and retailers on its way down.
“While many will feel relieved that this latest uncertainty has now, to an extent, been ended, we now need to get on with developing a system that stands a better chance of working – one that makes it as easy as possible for consumers, producers and retailers.”
