Bottled water manufacturer Highland Spring has said it remains committed to the aims of a "well-designed" Deposit Return Scheme, but the future of DRS in the UK looks rather messy following shambolic attempts to introduce a mandatory recycling scheme in Scotland earlier this year.

In accounts which show an increase in turnover and profit for the year to December 2022, Perthshire-based Highland Spring detailed at length the many measures it has taken to reduce its carbon footprint and other detrimental impacts on the environment. This is to be applauded, and against this backdrop the company naturally remained steadfast on the concept of DRS.

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"Working towards a truly circular economy, the group supports the aims of a well-designed Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) and sees this as a crucial way of increasing recycling rates, reducing litter and increasing the availability of good quality recycled materials for us to use in our products," Highland Spring said.

"Through collaboration with other members we will work to achieve the 90% recycle rate target for...PET, metal and glass containers collected by the Scottish scheme by year two of the go-live date."

Former chief executive and non-executive director Les Montgomery signed off on those accounts in April, when the launch of Scotland's DRS had been postponed yet again to March 2024. 

However, much has happened since then. After a protracted political tussle between Holyrood and Westminster it was confirmed in June that the Scottish DRS is to be further delayed to October 2025 at the earliest, to launch in tandem with a UK-wide initiative. 

This triggered the collapse of scheme administrator Circularity Scotland, which went into administration two weeks later with liabilities of more than £86 million including £65m owed to waste giant Biffa which held the contract for collecting and recycling DRS materials.

Retailers and producers were also left out of pocket on money spent in preparation for the Scottish DRS, leading to talk of claims for compensation. It is yet to be seen whether that will materialise.

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As the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) faces the arduous task of trying to set up an administrator for a UK-wide initiative, bosses of companies such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Irn-Bru maker AG Barr have reportedly written to Primie Minister Rishi Sunak seeking assurances that the scheme won't be axed at the 11th hour. There are also concerns about higher costs being passed on to consumers already under presuure from surging inflation.

Businesses are estimated to have spent in the region of £300m ahead of the aborted introduction in August of Scotland's DRS. Those losses mean they will be very reluctant to invest again in any future scheme without cast-iron guarantees.