Scottish retailers push back against cup levy

The Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) is calling for the Scottish government to abandon plans for a new levy on disposable cups.

Retailers in Scotland are currently preparing for the implementation of UK-wide environmental schemes – including extended producer responsibility for packaging and the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) for drinks bottles and cans.

With the consultation closing on 14 November, the SRC claims:

• The levy will change whether consumers buy drinks, not whether they choose reusable alternatives
• The levy will impact on the least affluent consumers most heavily
• Many retailers and hospitality businesses will not be able to administer the levy, nor practically offer reusable alternatives
• There will be a discrete impact on food-to-go businesses already under significant pressure from weak sales and increasing costs
• The government should instead focus on improving recycling infrastructure and collection alongside supporting the wide range of industry initiatives.

Opinion: Regulation is pushing Scottish c-stores to breaking point, by Pete Cheema, chief executive, SGF

Ewan MacDonald-Russell, deputy head of SRC, said a cup levy will do “very little” to help with the reduction of waste, and attempts to increase reuse and recyling of cups, and will hit businesses “in the pocket”.

He said: “Adding a charge to drinks on the go is more likely to affect whether consumers buy the drink in the first place rather than encourage them to use a reusable cup. The idea consumers will treat cups the same way as shopping bags is implausible. Not least that many hospitality businesses cannot realistically offer reusable alternatives because they sell self-service drinks, deliver drinks, or don’t have the capacity to safely clean customers cups. 

MacDonald-Russell said a “far better option” would be for the industry to work on the range of initiatives with retailers, “such as the National Cup Recycling Scheme, Borrow Cup, and the use of discounts and rewards to incentivise the use of a reusable cup over a single-use one”.

“Whilst we recognise the government wants to take action to improve recycling and reuse rates across Scotland, that can only be done with proportionate policymaking. We don’t believe a new charge on cups passes that test,” he added.

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