Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the planned deposit return scheme, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential effect of a flat rate deposit on portion sizes.

The Government’s second consultation on introducing a deposit return scheme (DRS), which is currently live, sets out the intention for the scheme to be managed by an organisation called the Deposit Management Organisation (DMO). We propose that the DMO would have the ability to decide on the type of deposit for the scheme (flat or variable rate) and to set the deposit amount at the level they deem suitable for achieving the objectives of the scheme, subject to parameters set out by Government in legislation. For this reason, we have not conducted specific analysis on all possible scenarios the deposit may be set at, but our current Impact Assessment (published alongside the second consultation) assumes a flat rate 20p deposit is placed on all in-scope drinks containers and offers analysis of how the deposit level can influence return rates.

The operating costs and revenue of a DRS could be impacted by the deposit rate chosen by the DMO, which will be somewhat dependent on the extent to which unredeemed deposits are used to fund the scheme. We are seeking views in the second consultation on how unredeemed deposits should be used to fund the DRS. The department do not foresee significant administrative / operational costs to the scheme as a result of having either a flat or variable rate deposit.

No specific assessment has been made by Government on the potential effect of a variable rate deposit on return rates of in-scope containers, on product wastage, or on portion sizes, but we continue to engage with industry and consider any relevant research which should be factored into our overall design and analysis of the scheme. In any case, we propose to place a 90% collection rate target on the DMO, and the approach to setting the deposit level chosen by the DMO should reflect their obligation to achieve this target.