Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 14 December 2021
14 Dec 2021 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Deposit Return Scheme
I appreciate Mercedes Villalba bringing that question back; I was unable to answer it the other day.
As I have said, we are still in the middle of the Covid pandemic, and we are still dealing with the after-effects of Brexit. We absolutely want the producers and retailers that Mercedes Villalba mentioned to take responsibility, but we also have to be aware that they are struggling in the pandemic and with Brexit. I do not think that it is right to suggest that an additional financial penalty should be inflicted on Scotland’s small breweries, hospitality businesses and convenience stores for delays that are due to Brexit and Covid, and which are in no way the fault of those businesses.
We will implement the ambitious scheme as quickly as we practicably can, and that will reduce the waste and litter on our beaches. What Mercedes Villalba proposes would essentially amount to introducing an extended producer responsibility scheme. That will be rolled out in the UK in the years ahead. Currently, Scotland does not have the powers to roll out an extended producer responsibility scheme on its own. We are working with the UK Government to do that for the four nations, and we will work on that going forward.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Annabelle Ewing)
SNP
The next item of business is a statement by Lorna Slater on Scotland’s deposit return scheme. The minister will take questions at the end of her statement, s...
The Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity (Lorna Slater)
Green
When I updated the Parliament last month, I underlined the Scottish Government’s commitment to delivering an operational deposit return scheme as soon as is ...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
The minister will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement. I intend to allow about 20 minutes for questions.
Maurice Golden (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
I thank the minister for advance sight of her statement. Like the last update on the deposit return scheme, the statement raises more questions than it answe...
Lorna Slater
Green
I thank the member for the question, for his enthusiasm for the deposit return scheme, and for his keenness to see it implemented as soon as possible, especi...
Colin Smyth (South Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
I thank the minister for advance sight of her statement. August 2023 will be more than two years later than the first date proposed by the minister in 2019 f...
Lorna Slater
Green
As I said to Mr Golden, I welcome the member’s enthusiasm for the scheme and his desire to see it implemented as soon as possible. That represents a change i...
Stuart McMillan (Greenock and Inverclyde) (SNP)
SNP
Will the minister provide an update on discussions that she has had with Scotland-based engineering businesses that can play their part in supplying the equi...
Lorna Slater
Green
In line with the principle of producer responsibility, it is for industry—especially Circularity Scotland—to procure the infrastructure that will be needed t...
Liam Kerr (North East Scotland) (Con)
Con
We have been told that there will be a producer fee. Will the minister release the business case containing all costs for calculating the fee? Will she confi...
Lorna Slater
Green
Circularity Scotland is a private not-for-profit company. It is common in Europe for the DRS administrator to be set up that way and it is entirely appropria...
Fergus Ewing (Inverness and Nairn) (SNP)
SNP
Will the minister meet me and representatives of the Society of Independent Brewers, which represents mostly small craft brewers? Is she aware that those bre...
Lorna Slater
Green
I share Fergus Ewing’s concern about small businesses in Scotland and the need to ensure that we support them. It is one of the reasons for the extensive wor...
Mercedes Villalba (North East Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
My colleague Colin Smyth has already outlined the significant cost to local government and the environment that will be caused by the delay. Someone has to p...
Lorna Slater
Green
I appreciate Mercedes Villalba bringing that question back; I was unable to answer it the other day. As I have said, we are still in the middle of the Covid...
Kenneth Gibson (Cunninghame North) (SNP)
SNP
A major wine distributor in my constituency with more than 50 employees—there would have been more than 70 without Brexit—has expressed a number of concerns ...
Lorna Slater
Green
There is no requirement in the regulations for producers to adopt a specific label as a means of preventing fraud. That is a matter for the producers and the...
Liam McArthur (Orkney Islands) (LD)
LD
I apologise to the Presiding Officer and the minister for being slightly late to the chamber. I congratulate the minister on a laudable effort at dressing u...
Lorna Slater
Green
The scheme in Orkney will be a community scheme that will be in place in one town, I believe. That will allow people to get their deposit and donate it to ch...
Fiona Hyslop (Linlithgow) (SNP)
SNP
Is the minister aware that the Aldi store in Bathgate, which is in my constituency, has already begun a deposit return scheme trial, in which it asks for bot...
Lorna Slater
Green
I am delighted that Aldi has started that trial. From discussions that I have had with it, I know that it is planning more. That shows the enthusiasm that re...
Mark Ruskell (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Green)
Green
It is clear that Scotland’s DRS will be a game changer and, while I share the minister’s frustration about the pandemic and Brexit delays, I welcome the fact...
Lorna Slater
Green
The scope of the English scheme will be a matter for the UK Government to decide. However, Scotland will be the first country in the UK to have a deposit ret...
Dean Lockhart (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con)
Con
Last week in the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee, Jim Fox of Food and Drink Scotland told the committee that some parts of the industry are ready to...
Lorna Slater
Green
The question is more about big retailers versus small businesses. I do not have the specific numbers for the member, but I can write to him with them. The me...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
Clare Adamson is joining us remotely, and I will squeeze in Craig Hoy if he is very brief.
Clare Adamson (Motherwell and Wishaw) (SNP)
SNP
I was lucky enough to be at Glencairn primary school in Motherwell in 2018 when the minister launched the deposit return scheme consultation. On that day, th...
Lorna Slater
Green
During the 26th United Nations climate change conference of the parties—COP26—I was lucky enough to meet some schoolchildren who talked about wanting to impl...
Craig Hoy (South Scotland) (Con)
Con
Given that the necessary funding is still not in place, and that Circularity Scotland lacks a full board and has neither a permanent chief executive officer ...
Lorna Slater
Green
I am sorry—could the member repeat the question? I am not sure how it links with what he said first.