Taxpayers money paid to Circulatory Scotland, Zero Waste Scotland and Biffa waste company to set up the Deposit Return Scheme: FOI release

Information requested

Using FOI Scotland can you tell me how much of taxpayers money has been paid to Circulatory Scotland, Zero Waste Scotland and Biffa waste company to set up the Deposit Return Scheme and how many retailers have signed up to the scheme?

Response

No public funding has been provided to either Circularity Scotland Ltd, or Biffa in respect of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).

Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) has spent the following public funding on DRS:

Financial Year	Amount
2018-2019	£539,000
2019-2020	£2,762,000
2020-2021	£126,000
2021-2022	£28,000
Total	£3,455,000

Figures for the current financial year will not be available until after it ends.

All retail premises that sell in-scope articles are obliged to charge the deposit for scheme articles, and act as a return point under the DRS Regulations. There is no signing up process in this regard. However, the Regulations allow for retail premises to apply for exemptions from the requirement to act as a return point should they meet certain criteria.

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