An SNP MSP is calling on the Scottish Government to postpone the launch of the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) by at least 18 months.
Appearing on the BBC programme The Sunday Show, former Business Minister Fergus Ewing said that the Scottish Government forging ahead with the plan would be like the captain of the Titanic deliberately setting off to hit the iceberg.
Ewing was disparaging of Lorna Slater, the Scottish Green MSP and Minister for Circular Economy in charge of the scheme.
“I think what’s important is that we have a scheme that works,” he said. “And, unfortunately, this scheme has major flaws, fundamental flaws that I don’t think can be fixed or remedied.
“The minister, I’m afraid, I don’t think anyone could argue that it’s been handled well.
“I think there needs to be a halt. The scheme cannot go ahead as planned in August.
“It simply will not work and it will be worse for the environment because it will add millions of car miles, with people taking the material back to the return points and with the vans collecting it therefrom.
I think we need to pause for at least 18 months. And that was the recommendation of the government’s own review. It said that businesses need 12 to 24 months and 18 months was specifically identified as perhaps the right period.
“We [also] need an independent review by somebody completely unconnected with the workings so far and someone that will work very closely with industry.”
Ewing also wants glass to be excluded from Scotland’s scheme, claiming that countries with the best recycling rates for glass do not have DRSs.
The scheme will require every Scottish business which sells single-use drinks cans or bottles to introduce a takeback system to promote higher rates of recycling and is due to go live on August 16.
Consumers will pay a 20p deposit on these items, which they will get back after returning the empty container to a recycling point or reverse vending machine.
However, some business owners have criticised the scheme, claiming it is “completely unworkable” and may destroy small businesses due to the associated costs.
The Scottish Retail Consortium has warned that it may also increase the price of products and urged the Scottish Government to provide a full “blueprint” of how the scheme will work by the end of February.
But the Scottish Government has said that “bold and ambitious” action is needed to tackle the climate emergency, which includes improving recycling rates in Scotland, and has so far not committed to providing such a blueprint by the end of the month.
Scotland Secretary Alister Jack has also chimed in, telling the Mail on Sunday: “It's not too late to think again and so I'm calling on the Scottish Government to pause its scheme”
Environmental campaigner Laura Young, who also appeared on the programme, stressed the urgency with which the scheme was required.
“There’s always going to teething issues when we implement anything that is new into the lives of everyday people. But we need to realise what is at stake here.
“We have such a huge environmental problem with litter. We’ve had Keep Scotland Beautiful declare a litter emergency. We also know that we have a continuing plastic pollution problem and we have terrible recycling rates.
“The system that we have right now is just not good enough. And thinking back to Blue Planet 2 – the moment where loads of people woke up and said ‘as a consumer I want to make better choices’ – a lot of us have felt frustrated that businesses haven’t been able to offer us better choices.
“And so although this isn’t perfect, it’s giving us something else to work towards and we’ve seen it be so successful in other countries around the world.”
The BBC said that neither Lorna Slater nor any other government minister was available to defend the scheme on the programme.
