Scotland's Deposit Return Scheme

The scheme applies to all types of drinks that are contained in single-use packaging that is:

• made from PET plastic, glass, steel or aluminium;
• between 100ml and 3 litre of liquid in volume;
• sealed in an airtight and watertight state at the point of sale;
• first made available to be sold by the producer on or after the scheme go-live date;
• made available to be sold by the producer for the purposes of its retail in Scotland;
• is not a low volume drink product.

These are called scheme articles, but you may also see them being referred to as scheme containers.

Further information about scheme articles is available in our Guide to scheme articles, non-scheme articles and non-Scottish articles.

The deposit is 20p per drink (scheme article). The 20p deposit is charged on each drink bought and redeemed on each empty scheme container returned. For multipacks, the deposit is charged per drink in a pack rather than per pack. For example, for a multipack containing six drinks the deposit would be £1.20.

On 7 June 2023, the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity announced that the launch of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme will be delayed until at least October 2025. The full statement is available to view on the Scottish Government website.

SEPA is the regulator for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme. We are responsible for the producer registration service and checking compliance. We will work with producers, retailers, wholesalers and the scheme administrator to help them understand their obligations and what they need to do to comply with the scheme.

Once the scheme is live, we will publish a list of all registered producers and carry out audits, inspections and enforcement activity. You can find out more about our regulatory approach and what this means for DRS obligated businesses in SEPA's approach to regulation.

While the scheme undergoes review to become fully interoperable with the rest of the UK, we will continue to work closely with Scottish Government and our delivery partners on scheme implementation and statutory requirements.

The industry-led scheme gives drinks producers a leading role in the management and collection of their empty drink containers for recycling. Once the scheme goes live, producers that want to sell their products to consumers in Scotland will need to be registered with SEPA (either directly or through a scheme administrator), charge and refund deposits on the drinks they sell, arrange for the collection of their empty containers and meet collection targets.

For the purposes of the Regulations, a producer is a drinks brand owner, an importer of drinks into the UK market, or someone who fills and seals scheme containers with a drink at the point of sale to a consumer, for example, a crowler.

Once the scheme goes live, retailers and hospitality businesses will be responsible for making sure the drinks they sell are from registered producers and for charging customers the deposit (where applicable) when they are sold. They will also need to display information to help customers understand which drinks are part of the scheme and how much the deposit is. Unless exempt, retailers will also have to operate a return point, collecting empty containers for recycling and returning the deposit to consumers.

For the purposes of the Regulations, a retailer is someone who sells drinks to consumers in Scotland. This includes face-to-face retail, online retail, sales in a hospitality setting, sales from vending machines, and wholesalers that sell direct to consumers.

Wholesalers have similar obligations to retailers. Once the scheme goes live, they will be responsible for making sure the drinks they sell to customers for retail sale in Scotland are from registered producers and that they charge the deposit when the drinks are sold. It will be important that they know which stock is part of the scheme and which is not and make this clear to customers.

Wholesalers do not need to operate a return point unless they are selling drinks that are part of the scheme directly to consumers.

For the purposes of the Regulations, a wholesaler is someone who sells drinks that they have not produced or imported themselves and are not selling to consumers, but instead sell to retailers or other business that will sell to consumers. This includes any third-party reseller regardless of whether they operate from a warehouse or not.

A scheme administrator is responsible for the day-to-day management of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme. They are approved by Scottish Ministers and are legally able to act on behalf of producers to fulfil their legal obligations as detailed in the Regulations. This includes being responsible for submitting applications to SEPA on behalf of the producers they represent and complying with the Regulations on their behalf.