Members will be aware that for quite some time the Green Party has sought the introduction of a deposit return scheme, (DRS).
As part of the Programme for Government, it was agreed that a DRS would be put in place during the lifetime of this government.
Consequently, a consultation process took place at the end of last year and the Department for The Environment, Climate and Communications has invited retailers ,the beverages industry and the waste management sector to adorn a Working Group to devise a scheme to process the return of plastic bottles and aluminium cans.
CSNA has been asked to be one of the three retailing groups charged with assisting in the design of this scheme. We are of the belief that for this scheme to work it needs to ensure that all retailers large and small are accommodated and also rewarded for their participation.
There are many aspects of the scheme that will require teasing out, not least of which are the actual objectives ,the budget ,the timescales, how border control is implemented and how machines are to be paid for, etc.
These matters will no doubt be fully teased out in discussions leading, one would hope, to a Scheme that makes for a better environment without costing the Earth!