The Scottish government has announced it will be conducting a review into the go-live date for it’s deposit return scheme (DRS).

Speaking in Scottish Parliament yesterday, Minister for Rural Affairs and the Natural Environment, Ben Macpherson blamed the impact of the coronavirus pandemic for the decision.

“At the time that the DRS regulations were passed, the Scottish government committed to closely monitor the impact of the pandemic on implementation of DRS,” he said.

“Given the significant disruption caused to relevant sectors over the past year, we have decided to commission an independent gateway review to assess the impact of the pandemic on the go-live date for the scheme.”

In March 2020, the Scottish government first announced it would be delaying the implementation of DRS, due to the pandemic. At the time, it resulted in a 15-month delay, pushing the start date to July 2022.

It is unknown what will be included in the “independent gateway review”, or how much longer it will delay the launch of DRS.