AQW 18058/17-22

Mr John Blair
Alliance Party
South Antrim

Tabled Date: 27/04/2021
Answered On Date: 11/05/2021
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs what assessment his Department has made of whether a variable rate deposit in the upcoming deposit return scheme would lead to increasing return rates.

Answer:

Along with my counterparts in England and Wales I launched a public consultation on 24 March 2021 which will close on 4th June 2021 on a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for drinks containers. Chapter four of the consultation deals with deposit level. Consumer research suggests that the deposit level needs to be high enough to motivate use without influencing affordability.

As detailed within chapter six of the DRS impact assessment, experience from international schemes indicates a broadly positive, though variable, relationship between the deposit charged and the return rate achieved. Responses to previous consultations suggest a majority of consumers favour a flat rate but complications arise when considering, for example, multipacks.

To take account of different considerations the consultation proposes that minimum and, possibly, maximum deposit rates could be set within secondary legislation, which will describe the methodology to be used for altering the deposit level. This would give a scheme administrator the flexibility to meet statutory collection targets. Further views on this aspect of the scheme are being sought in the current live consultation.

The link to the consultation document can be found on the following link. https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/consultations/introducing-deposit-return-scheme-england-wales-and-northern-ireland