After nearly a decade of delays, the UK’s Deposit Return Scheme is finally set to launch in October 2027. But we’re now facing a critical choice: do we settle for a recycling only scheme, or do we embrace Wales’ ambition to include glass and reuse?
Wales is asking the UK Government for an exemption to the Internal Markets Act to include glass in their DRS – and more importantly, to build infrastructure for bottle reuse, not just recycling. This isn’t radical. It’s simply returning to what worked for generations.
between the 1950s and 1980s, glass bottles were routinely washed and refilled up to 40 times. Milk bottles, Irn-Bru, local soft drinks – all operated on deposit and return. We had the infrastructure, the culture, and it worked. We can have it again.
Wales is uniquely positioned to lead. They’re already second in the world for recycling rates, with excellent kerbside collection and citizen buy-in. Research shows 86% of Welsh voters want glass included. Countries across Europe – and systems in Canada and Australia – demonstrate that regional variation is both manageable and effective. Germany’s DRS achieves 97-99% return rates, with glass bottles reused up to 55 times.
If the UK Government blocks Wales’ amendment, we’ll lose more than just glass collection. We’ll lose the chance to test and scale reuse infrastructure while DRS is being established. We’ll continue pushing businesses and consumers toward single-use over reuse.
The reuse businesses that invested based on the UK Government’s 2018 commitment to include glass are already folding. Innovation is being lost and knowledge and infrastructure are disappearing. If we don’t act now, reuse will be kicked down the road for another decade – or worse still abandoned entirely.
The waste hierarchy legally prioritises reuse over recycling. Yet both pEPR and the current DRS plans are taking a recycling first approach. Industry concerns about logistics and costs are entirely valid, but they shouldn’t outweigh the environmental, climate, and community costs of continuing to promote single-use systems.
So my message in a bottle? Let Wales lead. Let them test, learn, and build the reuse infrastructure the whole UK needs. This isn’t about creating trade barriers – it’s about accelerating growth in a new reuse economy by grafting reuse onto recycling, not blocking it indefinitely.
We took ten years to get here. We can’t afford to wait another decade.
UK Reuse Alliance 