Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee 27 May 2025
That is a good point, and it is something that the scheme administrator will take into account. You have rightly pointed to rural areas, where there might be no larger supermarkets and the small convenience stores might be the only vendor in the area.
The scheme administrator will look at the spread of return points. Supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores and newsagents will be required to host return points unless their premises are less than 100m2 and in an urban area. In a rural area, there will be an expectation that a convenience store—which might be the only such store on, say, an island—will have a return point. After all, we do not want to disenfranchise people living in island communities; they will be paying the deposit on their drinks containers, so they will want to get that back. The scheme administrator will be working with small vendors to ensure they have that capacity.
The administrator will also have a map of all the return points. It will be voluntary in urban environments, but we should bear in mind the business case for having a return point when it comes to competition. It will be far better for you if your grocery store or supermarket has a return point in your grocery store or supermarket, because of the associated footfall; if people are returning their cans and bottles, they are more likely to spend money on their way out of your shop or to redeem their vouchers there.
At the moment, then, this is voluntary in urban areas, while in rural areas, there is an expectation that there will be an acceptable spread of return points to ensure that people in those areas are not disenfranchised.
10:45