2023 Britvic Soft Drinks Review Licensed - Flipbook - Page 8
WELCOME
SUSTAINABILITY
CATEGORY OVERVIEW
The economic
arguments for DRS
There are other benefits to the roll out of
DRS in Scotland ahead of the rest of the
UK. It will give retailers and producers like
us the opportunity to test and learn ahead
of the introduction of the UK-wide scheme
in two years’ time and is also expected to
increase the amount of quality recycled
material available for soft drinks producers
to use, thereby reducing their reliance on
virgin plastic.22
There has been an explosion in demand for recycled PET
(rPET) and some producers’ efforts to increase their use
of the material have been hampered by a lack of supply
and limited access to markets outside the UK. Scotland’s
DRS is an important first step in securing a sustainable
market for rPET in the UK and helping producers work
towards increasing their use of this material.
The scheme has other economic benefits. Retailers
including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Iceland, Lidl and Aldi have
been trialling reverse vending machines across Scotland
for the past couple of years23 and hundreds of jobs
are being created in the waste management sector.24
Logistics partner, Biffa, has announced an £80m
investment programme to facilitate the scheme.25
As we’ve said, the environmental imperatives are
central to the case for DRS. But the climate and costof-living crises are entwined. Agriculture is “one of
the most exposed sectors to climate change”26 and
extreme weather events around the world are playing
a significant role in driving up food prices.27 The UK’s
drought last summer and unseasonably cold weather
towards the end of the year in the Mediterranean and
North Africa28 have helped inflate food prices to their
current levels.
This is significant. In 1977, the last time food inflation
was running this high, the now legendary heatwave of
1976 was a major contributor to sky-high food prices.29
That year, southern England baked in 16 consecutive
days of temperatures above 30°C30 and prolonged
drought prompted water rationing and wiped out £500m
of crops.29
Which goes to show, we need to
act to address the environmental
challenges before us. Doing so
could help mitigate the shorterterm economic challenges we
face. Crucially, it will help sustain
healthier and happier futures for
all life on earth.
22 https://depositreturnscheme.zerowastescotland.org.uk/benefits
23 Talking Retail, 22/08/2019 - https://www.talkingretail.com/news/industry-news/iceland-reveals-results-reverse-vending-trial-22-08-2019/ - Convenience Retail , 29/01/2019
- https://www.conveniencestore.co.uk/news/scottish-retailers-to-trial-reverse-vending-machines/576044.article – Charged Retail, 27/08/2019 - https://www.chargedretail.
co.uk/2019/08/27/sainsburys-to-accept-glass-bottles-in-reverse-vending-machines-in-landmark-trial/
24 Biffa, 07/02/2023 https://www.biffa.co.uk/media-centre/news/2023/biffa-deposit-return-scheme-aberdeen – SLR, 07/03/2023 - https://www.slrmag.co.uk/drs-recyclingcentre-to-create-up-to-140-jobs-in-motherwell/ - Falkirk Hearld, 07/11/2019 https://www.falkirkherald.co.uk/business/firms-part-in-new-deposit-return-scheme-drs-will-create130-jobs-in-grangemouth-3908971
25 Packaging News, 07/03/2023 - https://www.packagingnews.co.uk/news/biffa-to-open-motherwell-facility-as-part-of-80m-drs-investment-07-03-2023
26 Stockholm Environment Institute, 16/09/2021 - https://www.sei.org/about-sei/press-room/new-assessment-reveals-major-climate-risks-to-global-food-trade-calls-forurgent-multilateral-action/
27 Financial Times 08/01/2022 - https://www.ft.com/content/fd57ad0b-b98a-4e34-b6b7-f9bbae2ce12e
28 TheNationalNews.com, 22/02/2023 - https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2023/02/21/britain-faces-tomato-shortage-following-harvest-problems-in-north-africa/
29 ThisisWiltshire.co.uk, July 2001 -https://web.archive.org/web/20090708200802/http://archive.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/2001/7/4/214711.html
30 Met Office, August 2003 - https://web.archive.org/web/20110405004808/http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/interesting/aug03maxtemps.html
8
SUSTAINABILITY