Deposit return proposals pose a number of problems for small businesses according to the sector’s representative in the Highlands.
The Federation of Small Businesses’ (FSB) Highlands and Islands development manager, David Richardson, said: “The Deposit and Return Scheme (DRS) rang alarm bells within the FSB as soon as the details were announced, not because we are against recycling – far from it, it’s essential – but because, however well-intentioned, this particular scheme has serious flaws.
“Small retailers have to contend with the extra space that administering it will take up in their premises, with the cost of running the scheme, and with the time that it will take them to set up and administer it – all serious problems for many.
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“But there is more, for Scotland is jumping in to launch a DRS ahead of anything similar in the rest of the UK, and this presents immediate problems to business trading across the border.
“Similarly, the sheer complexity and the cost of administering it for the smallest independent brewers is going to soar, possibly doubling the cost of a bottle of beer, and the largest brewers’ products are also going to see substantial price increases.
“The net result is that to stay solvent, many producers and wholesalers are having to decide whether to supply to and within Scotland, one estimate being that between 20 per cent and 40 per cent of the drink lines currently available in this country will disappear in August.”
He called for firms to be given more information about the scheme.
Circular economy minister Lorna Slater says business concerns have already been addressed but Mr Richardson added: “What businesses need right now is more information on the detail of the Deposit and Return Scheme, for it to be better organised, for help to be made available to the smallest producers and retailers, and for its introduction to be delayed to give the Scottish Government time to make the changes that will ensure that it works for the environment, for businesses, for the economy and for the general public,” he said.
