The philosopher George Santayana is reputed to have said “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. And it looks like the Welsh government are planning to test out this maxim in following the example of their Scottish counterparts in trying to go it alone with a recycling scheme for drinks containers.
Last year, the Westminster government gave the go-ahead to the Scottish proposals for a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), but only on the condition that they excluded glass, confining it to cans and plastic bottles. Rather than proceed with a modified scheme, the Scottish government in something of a fit of pique decided to scrap the whole thing so they would have to await the implementation of a UK-wide scheme later in the decade. I wrote about this here.
The UK government wanted glass removed from the scheme because of internal market concerns. It would in effect create a trade barrier between two parts of the same country, which would be bad for both businesses and consumers. Some of the respondents to my post seemed to fail to grasp this point, but every business operating the scheme would have had to introduce Scotland-specific packaging, so that deposits could only be reclaimed on containers that had paid it in the first place, pay a fee to register for the scheme, and potentially be subject to fines if an insufficient proportion of their containers were returned.
Not surprisingly, many smaller businesses decided that the cost and bureaucracy would not be worth it if they were only selling small quantities in Scotland in the first place. This would have especially affected small producers of alcoholic drinks. We could potentially have ended up with the ridiculous situation of small Scottish brewers refusing to supply Scotland, while being happy to sell beer in the rest of the UK.
Glass already had a much better recycling rate than cans and plastic bottles, and was also the medium overwhelmingly used by smaller producers, so it made a lot of sense to exclude it. Mass-market producers of beers and soft drinks, who used cans and plastic bottles, would have found it much easier and more worthwhile to come within the scheme.
The UK government have committed to introducing a UK-wide deposit return scheme from 2027, which would exclude glass. However, the Welsh government have indicated that they intend to opt out from this and introduce their own scheme that would include glass. So we are likely to see exactly the same issues of smaller producers refusing to supply Wales, and Welsh brewers deciding it is not worthwhile to sell in their home country. Wales only accounts for 5% of the total UK population, so many producers will conclude it isn’t worth the effort and expense. The range of packaged alcoholic drinks available to Welsh consumers will be drastically reduced. In contrast, the UK as a whole, with a population of 68 million, is a market worth making specific provision for.
UK Hospitality have expressed their serious concerns about the plan, and there must be a strong possibility that the story will play out the same way, and the UK government will ultimately refuse to approve the Welsh scheme because of single market concerns. But, of course, after the Senedd elections in 2026, the Welsh political landscape may look very different...
Note that this is not about the desirability of a DRS in principle, but the practicalities of how this particular scheme would actually work and its effect on the markets that it would cover.
Population of 68 million? Could be as high as 92 million.
ReplyDeleteNot sure how many of the difference are beer drinkers, though.
DeleteVery few I'd think. So about excluding glass, wasn't entirely clear to me why the same charasteristics don't apply to cans.
DeleteThe vast majority of cans are fizzy soft drinks and mainstream beers, whereas pretty much all low-volume wines and spirits are in glass. Craft cans are a pimple on an elephant's backside.
DeleteEver noticed how how every green / environmental measure makes things marginally worse and more expensive for the lives of normal people whilst those imposing it don't appear to curtail their own use of private jets?
ReplyDeleteVery, very, true.
DeletePut a large deposit on plastic key kegs.
ReplyDeleteMake sure they are recycled.
The Greens have been virtually wiped out in the current Irish general election, likely to lose all but one of their 12 seats.
ReplyDeleteSeems people are more interested in not being able to afford a house than electric vehicles and a forest of recycling bins outside the shithole they're paying €1500 a month to rent.
I expect Reform and the Faragemeister to make hay in the upcoming Welsh regional ballot.
Here in New Zealand - where Saint Jacinda has long gone - they seem to enjoy life without the self-loathing that accompanies much of British politics.
Christchurch, re-built after the earthquake, is a delight.
There's a thriving beer, bar and restaurant scene and they're fabulous hosts even after we tupped them at the cricket - they certainly take defeat better than their sandpaper-loving neighbours.
Top beer so far has been a ferociously strong local Belgian Triple. Oy vey the hangover !
In a couple of hours we head off to the South Island in search of Middle Earth while the Kiwis search for a decent middle order.
Baddum Tish !
My travelling companion on this New Zealand jolly has a bit of heft.
ReplyDeleteHe thinks " around 21 or 22 stone " and most of it is around his belly.
It is stupendously large, arriving several seconds before the rest of him like those bulbous additions just below the waterline on the bows of supertankers.
We'll probably need to know his exact weight in a few hours time - he's paid £210 for a 50-minute flight above the snow covered peaks of the Mount Cook mountain range later this morning in a single-engined plane.
There may be a 130kg weight limit depending on how many are on the flight.
I won't be one of them. Not because of my old friend's ocean-going gut but the single-engine bit. As a rule I prefer a minimum of two.
Anyhow, the purpose of this post was last night's dinner.
We're staying in Twizel, a small remote town jerry-built to house workers building a nearby hydro-electric system in the 1960s who liked the area so much they persuade the authorities not to knock it down and stayed.
It's not much bigger than the small town in Wiltshire where I live.
In a local bar and restaurant there were 15 different New Zealand keg beers on tap including IPAs, pales, a couple of stouts and a delicious 5% ginger beer.
We ate two finger thick rib-eye steaks covered in garlic butter with chips and a great salad for about £22 each.
( My old mucker had most of my chips and I had all of his salad - there's a bit of chunk to me too)
On a Monday night the place was rammed with locals of all ages, many of them enthusiastically fagging away in the outside eating area.
Where did we go wrong back home ? Although there are far fewer pubs we've yet to encounter a crap one and service is never less than friendly and welcoming. Not once in 10 days.
We sat outside our rental late into the night drinking a bottle of excellent local pinot noir (£10) and smoking cigars but neither of us could come up with a convincing explanation except perhaps that we seem to be losing the joy of experiencing the simple pleasures of life as a way of life rather than an occasional treat.
I'm awake early listening to the Tuesday dawn chorus competing with himself snoring loudly next door.
I do hope they won't turf him off the flight.