Scotland’s deposit return scheme, Circularity Scotland to reduce producer fees for DRS

SCOTLAND – Circularity Scotland, the administrator of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), has reduced producer fees for every material included in the scheme.

The producer fees, which are said to have been reduced by 40% in some cases, are calculated for each type of material.

Circularity Scotland said that the changes reflect the variations in collection costs as well as the sales revenues for collected materials.

In addition, it reflects updated assumptions, enabled by the Scottish Government’s revised guidance regarding return point exemptions and by an ongoing review of the scheme operating costs.

These changes are a result of Circularity Scotland’s ongoing dialogue with industry to reduce the cashflow impact of the scheme on producers, as well as engagement with the Scottish Government, which recently announced revised guidance around return point exemptions.

The final version of the Producer Agreement, including updated forecast fees and cashflows, is now available to view on the Circularity Scotland website.

David Harris, Circularity Scotland’s chief executive, said: “As scheme administrator, Circularity Scotland’s work is well underway to ensure that Scotland’s DRS is a success and runs effectively, efficiently, and at as low a cost as possible, from August 2023.

“The subject of forecast producer fees has been a huge focus for us, and we’ve been working with the government and all stakeholders to make positive strides in this area.

“The reductions we’ve been able to announce today will lower all producer DRS costs and bring about a significant reduction in day one cash requirements.”

According to David Harris, the change is a big result for the industry and the scheme’s work continues to find even greater efficiencies.

He adds that more information will be released shortly on the calculation of fees and administration of the scheme.

In the meantime, Circularity Scotland will continue to work on initiatives to further reduce the cash flow impact of the scheme on producers and optimize the cost of operating the scheme, he continues.

“We’re also here to help drinks producers prepare for scheme registration and our registration portal is open – so that businesses can appoint Circularity Scotland as their scheme administrator, which means we’ll manage their registration with SEPA and some of their scheme obligations,” said David.

Drinks producers – defined under the scheme as brand owners, importers or website operators selling single-use containers made from PET plastic, glass, steel or aluminum, sized between 50ml and 3 liter – need to be registered with the scheme’s regulator, SEPA, by 28th February.

Any drinks producers not registered by this date will be unable to legally sell scheme articles in Scotland after 16th August 2023.

To help producers with the application process, Circularity Scotland has prepared a guide to the registration process and a guide to the Producer Agreement, which is available on the website.

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