Independent retailers are set to receive grants of £6,000 per store to help with the cost of machines designed to recycle bottles and cans under the forthcoming Deposit Return Scheme.
The mandatory scheme, which comes into force in October 2027, will see shoppers pay a small surcharge on single-use plastic bottles and metal cans. This deposit will be returned via cash, card or voucher when customers return the containers, either in person at a shop, or by using ‘reverse vending machines’, which will likely be favoured by bigger stores.
Machines automatically scan and process drinks containers, before returning deposits to consumers via card transfer or vouchers. But the machines come with big price tags, costing between £15,000 and £30,000.
To help with that cost, Exchange for Change, the non-profit organisation tasked with running the scheme in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, has earmarked £60m worth of grants for small, independent retailers, who can receive £6,000 per site to buy, with the grant split across three years in annual instalments of £2,000.
Supermarkets, convenience stores and forecourt shops that sell drinks will be required to take part in the scheme, but shopkeepers in urban areas with less than 100m² (1,076sq ft) of retail space will be automatically exempt from having to operate a return point.
Urban shops with sales areas of 100m² to 199m², and rural shops with under 200m² (2,152sq ft) will be able to apply for exemptions if space limitations would make hosting machines, or storing containers returned manually, difficult.
Welsh government fails to appoint scheme manager
Separately, the Welsh government has failed to appoint a Deposit Management Organisation to run its programme.
Exchange for Change was the only organisation to apply to run the Welsh scheme, but the government refused this application.
Wales, unlike England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, has also insisted on including glass bottles in its DRS, an addition that will add expense and complication to the project.
Ed Woodall chief executive of the Association of Convenience Stores, comments: “It is extremely concerning to see the Welsh government fail to make progress on the appointment of the scheme administrator, especially as their proposed scheme is more complex and more costly than that coming into force in the rest of the UK.”
