Scotland launches 20p deposit scheme for drinks cans and bottles

[arista]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/may/08/scotland-launches-20p-deposit-return-scheme-for-drinks-cans-and-bottles?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium=&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1557336541


[Consumers in Scotland will have to pay a 20p deposit on every bottle or drinks
can they buy from shops under an ambitious new scheme unveiled by the Scottish government.
The deposit return scheme, the first national scheme in the UK, will cover glass and plastic bottles,
as well as aluminium and steel drinks cans, sold from any shop in Scotland.]


The First to do it.

[Oliver_W]

Urgh, piss of with your stealth extra taxes.

Instead, offer incentives for taking cans and bottles to recycling plants.

[user104658]

offer incentives for taking cans and bottles to recycling plants.

https://media0.giphy.com/media/qBH2TS4P72UFO/giphy.gif

[arista]

Urgh, piss of with your stealth extra taxes.

Instead, offer incentives for taking cans and bottles to recycling plants.


They say they go to recycling
you get you your 20p back

[bots]

kids will do great. It was a great earner for me as a kid returning glass bottles

[Crimson Dynamo]

More reason for my wine boxes

[Babayaro.]

It's a good idea. When I was in Munich two summers ago, people would leave their glass bottles (you can drink in public there) so the homeless could return them for money.

[Josy]

Urgh, piss of with your stealth extra taxes.

Instead, offer incentives for taking cans and bottles to recycling plants.You get 20p for returning them to be recycled

[MTVN]

So if you're a little shop and someone turns up with a truckload of old bottles and cans they've found they'll be obliged to refund the 20p on every one and find a means of recycling them themselves? Will they have a means of claiming that money back? :think: the decision not to exempt small retailers is a bit cruel, making them pay the price for the laziness of people to recycle themselves

[Josy]

So if you're a little shop and someone turns up with a truckload of old bottles and cans they've found they'll be obliged to refund the 20p on every one and find a means of recycling them themselves? Will they have a means of claiming that money back? :think: the decision not to exempt small retailers is a bit cruel, making them pay the price for the laziness of people to recycle themselves

Yeah it is quite unfair on smaller businesses tbh unless they have some kind of rule that you have to return them to where the were initially purchased or something?

[user104658]

So if you're a little shop and someone turns up with a truckload of old bottles and cans they've found they'll be obliged to refund the 20p on every one and find a means of recycling them themselves? Will they have a means of claiming that money back? :think: the decision not to exempt small retailers is a bit cruel, making them pay the price for the laziness of people to recycle themselves

If it's a "deposit" then the intention is that the 20p is charged as extra (e.g. a 70p can is now 90p) and is set aside and only given back when a can is returned. So the 20p is just "held" by the retailer, it's never part of their own funds. One assumes that the government gets the "fee" after a while if the item is never returned. You would HOPE that any funds gathered in that way go to environmental initiatives.

[Ammi]

...it won’t just be retailers where they can be returned...there will be RVM’s..(...Reverse Vending Machines...)...where the bottles can be deposited and the refund given...and even places like some schools../...community centres will have these for community use...

[Beso]

Surely the shop owners won't have to pay the tax cause they have no guaranteed way of getting the cans back..so couldn't the shop owners just cut out the middle man and pour out the contents and get 20p on every single one..?..increasing profit.

[MTVN]

If it's a "deposit" then the intention is that the 20p is charged as extra (e.g. a 70p can is now 90p) and is set aside and only given back when a can is returned. So the 20p is just "held" by the retailer, it's never part of their own funds. One assumes that the government gets the "fee" after a while if the item is never returned. You would HOPE that any funds gathered in that way go to environmental initiatives.

Yea but that assumes everyone will be returning them to the retailer they bought them from whereas people here are talking about the possibility of kids and homeless people collecting the bottles and returning them anywhere..

Better idea imo would be just to have large retailers subscribed to this scheme and have designated shops which are large enough to accommodate bulk returns quite easily

[joeysteele]

I think on balance it's a good idea.

[user104658]

Yea but that assumes everyone will be returning them to the retailer they bought them from whereas people here are talking about the possibility of kids and homeless people collecting the bottles and returning them anywhere..

Better idea imo would be just to have large retailers subscribed to this scheme and have designated shops which are large enough to accommodate bulk returns quite easily

Looking at it, it actually looks more like 20p from each sale goes straight into a central "pot" and then you can return to any retailer and get your refund, and the retailer then reclaims the 20p they give out from that central pot.

Does sound like a potential headache for small retailers I suppose, but not exactly major.

[Wizard.]

Urgh, piss of with your stealth extra taxes.

Instead, offer incentives for taking cans and bottles to recycling plants.

They used to actually. When I lived in Glasgow as a kid you’d get 20p for the return of glass bottles.

[Oliver_W]

They used to actually. When I lived in Glasgow as a kid you’d get 20p for the return of glass bottles.

That's how it should be, rather than bumping up prices and mucking small retailers around.

[Beso]

I can see still game coming back for a xmas special on this subject alone