Responding to the opening of a consultation on a Scottish Deposit Return Scheme by the Scottish Government, Brigid Simmonds OBE, CEO of the Scottish Beer & Pub Association, commented:
“We as an industry welcome the renewed focus on reducing waste and increasing sustainability through recycling. It is incredibly important that any deposit return system is workable on a UK-wide basis, with the costs to industry and the consumer of a separate Scottish system being too impractical. We welcome the openness for dialogue between the two governments and trust that common sense will prevail.
“Any system must also take account of the policy of minimum-unit pricing (MUP) in Scotland. A simple deposit per container on all alcohol products would undermine MUP by increasing the initial cost of products without consideration to their alcohol content. This means that the cost of lower strength drinks such as beer would increase more than higher strength products in larger containers. It could also see a multipack of beer in Scotland cost twice the amount as in England, unfairly penalising the Scottish consumer.
“We will be responding to the consultation in a positive way, but raise our concerns with government on cost and practicality to ensure that our industry and the consumers priorities are heard.”