Indies braced for chaos as recycling deadline nears

Scottish merchants pin hopes on a last-minute delay to Deposit Return Scheme as registration cut-off approaches

Merchants in Scotland are calling for a delay to the Deposit Return Scheme that they fear will be a disaster for their businesses.

Most independent wine retailers are hoping for a complete overhaul of the plans as they stand, which require all their suppliers to register with an agency called Circularity Scotland and ensure that barcodes appear on all bottles so that empties can be traced through the system.

The deadline for registration with the scheme – which will involve a 20p deposit on bottles – is this week (February 17), with the new regime coming into force on August 16.

But merchants say there is still not enough detail about how the scheme will operate in practice, and it seems clear that independent shops will be disadvantaged by comparison to the supermarkets.

Despite widespread opposition to the DRS plans from the trade, the Scottish government seemed determined to press on with the proposals as The Wine Merchant went to press. Merchants including Peter Wood of St Andrews Wine Co, who has been on a social media awareness campaign, believe that the scheme will restrict their ability to list wines from smaller producers.

Traders fear that there is little awareness of the DRS even among UK-based suppliers and have criticised the way the publicity and consultation for the scheme has been handled.

The UK government has indicated that glass bottles will be excluded from its own proposed scheme, but there is still the possibility that the Welsh government will follow Scotland’s example.

• Analysis – page 8.