Chamber and committees

Scotland's Deposit Return Scheme

Letter to Convener from Lorna Slater, Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity, Scottish Government, 14 December 2021

Dear Dean

Scotland Deposit Return Scheme

This afternoon I am making a Ministerial statement on Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme in the Chamber. As this policy falls within the remit of your Committee, I am writing to let you know the main points of the announcement, which are:

• The independent review concluded that the July 2022 implementation date was not achievable.
• Taking into account that advice and input from stakeholders, the scheme will now launch fully on 16 August 2023.
• We have set out a number of milestones before August 2023 that I will use to monitor progress. These include the launch of a public awareness campaign in August 2022 and, as part of phased implementation, a return scheme in place in Orkney from November 2022.
• The ambitious scope of our scheme remains unchanged and producers will be required to meet a 90% collection target by the second calendar year of operation, rather than the third as previously planned.
• We will lay Regulations tomorrow asking Parliament to approve the August 2023 date and to make some small changes to the existing legislation to provide additional clarity or help de-risk implementation.

I was glad that you were able to join the briefing from Circularity Scotland last week, which I hope you found helpful. I look forward to further engagement with you and the Committee on this important environmental scheme.

I have attached two documents associated with the independent review, which are being published today.

Kind regards

Lorna Slater