The 20p calamity Scots merchants warn of existential threat from recycling plans

The real kicker is that “all drinks producers will have to register with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, and producers will have to make sure their products can be identified as part of the scheme by barcode or specific labelling”.

By Sarah McCleery

You could make the whole debacle into a Netflix documentary,” says one Scottish indie when asked to sum up the increasingly contentious issue of the Deposit Return Scheme.

Conversations with retailers, wholesalers and importers north and south of the border make one thing very clear. Though fully supportive of an effective and sustainable recycling scheme, they believe a DRS which includes glass is very likely to fail.

“With the exception of alcohol statecontrolled countries like Sweden, no country in the world includes glass as part of their DRS. It is simply unworkable,” says Peter Wood of St Andrews Wine Company. It is a view that has been long supported by the Wine & Spirit Trade Association, which has argued that the best way to increase glass recycling rates is to improve kerbside collection.

The UK government recently said it would not include glass in its delayed DRS rollout in England and Wales, though the Welsh Assembly may yet choose to go its own way. WSTA chief executive Miles Beale says: “It is disappointing that not all UK governments share this same evidencebased approach to policy making. The consequence of Scotland and Wales taking different approaches will make it harder for business to trade across the UK.”

Under Scotland’s DRS regulations, wine retailers will need to meet several obligations. They don’t sound too horrendous to begin with: operating a return point; charging a 20p deposit and making clear the container is part of the scheme; and displaying the deposit value separately from the product price.

Putting barcodes on wine bottle labels is not industry standard, so this new requirement presents big challenges for indies and their suppliers. The published deadline for registering products is February 17. However, in a conference call with Circularity Scotland (CSL), the public agency tasked with administering the scheme, Peter Wood, Daniel Lambert and Sip Wines were told that producers only need to have registered themselves, and just one product, by this date. The portal would then remain open for additions to be made any time before the scheme comes into full force on August 16.

The barcode barrier

This muddled communication is the start of the barcode headache.

Will de Burgh, of de Burgh Wine

Merchants in Dalkeith, feels that “the major sticking point for small wine merchants is around barcodes”.

He adds: “So many wines don’t have them and without them, they cannot be registered and thus sold in Scotland after August 16. This is going to have a huge impact on the availability on smallerproduction wines in Scotland.”

Echoing these views south of the border is Laurie Webster of Argentinian specialist Ucopia Wines. Despite all of Webster’s wines being barcoded, he has concerns. “I have just become aware of DRS but the scenarios running through my head are worrying,” he says.

“I supply a variety of different clients in Scotland: larger wholesalers, who effectively have exclusivity on a small number of products; and a large number of brilliant, smaller clients who take small volumes of a broad range of wines.

“It seems the wholesalers will register the wines they deal with, but what will