Wales to go ahead with glass in DRS despite UK block

The Welsh government has said it “intends to bring forward” a deposit return scheme (DRS) which includes glass, despite Westminster blocking the inclusion of the same in Scotland.

The scheme is set to start in Wales in two years. Scotland’s scheme was delayed last week after it granted a temporary exclusion, as its scheme was due to precede the roll-out in the rest of the UK, but was told to exclude glass.

The UK government said its decision to exclude glass would affect also Wales’s plans. However, climate change minister Julie James said she would take the UK government “to task” and plans to include glass in its recycling scheme, which would see people refunded money if they returned empty drinks containers made of plastic, glass, steel or aluminium.

James said the Welsh Government would continue to roll out its scheme in two years, despite the intended block from Westminster. “We don’t think we need the permission of the UK government to do that,” she said.

She argued that her reading of the UK Internal Markets Bill was that no single nation could interrupt the commerce of the others.

“It’s England that’s the outlier here, not Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and they need to understand that,” she said.

The Welsh government consulted jointly with the UK government and Northern Ireland executive on its plans. When the UK government decided not to include glass it cited concerns about creating complexity and burdens for business.