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The Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020 set out the definition of “scheme article” at regulation 3(2). That definition does not assign any minimum set value to scheme articles, nor does it make any provision about them being a distinct class of commercial product.

Following the announcement of the new launch date, the First Minister and the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy, and Biodiversity met with senior industry representatives, including the main supermarkets, to discuss the scheme. While Tesco was invited they were unable to send a representative, however the First Minister was able to meet with the Tesco’s CEO and their Head of Communications & Devolved Government Relations in London of 25 April. The Scottish Government is continuing to work with industry, both producers and retailers, to ensure that when Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme launches on 1 March 2024 it works for all.

Information on what has been spent on circularity education in schools, colleges and workplaces is not held centrally but we have been able to establish that the support set out below has been provided.

Over the last five years, Zero Waste Scotland has employed an education and skills team (between 1 and 3 FTEs), to work with education and skills delivery bodies in Scotland to encourage uptake and incorporation of circular economy content into educational materials.

Zero Waste Scotland has spent £185,000 on education and skills projects, following the publication of Scottish Government’s Climate Emergency Skills Action Plan (CESAP) in 2020, to support the delivery of CESAP projects.

In addition, Zero Waste Scotland has, over the last five years, supported the Construction Supply Chain Sustainability School with £69,250.

The Scottish Government provided the Scottish Waste Industry Training, Competency, Health & Safety (SWITCH) forum with a grant of £50,000 in 2022-23. As part of this grant funding, SWITCH established two training courses in partnership with the University of the West of Scotland, targeted at supervisors in the waste industry, to develop skills and knowledge in waste legislation, licensing, compliance and planning.

The Scottish Government has also spent £569,501 over the last five years on relevant communications targeting the general public, principally focused on food waste.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency confirm that waste containers collected under the Deposit Return Scheme will not require the creation of a new category for the purposes of waste collection and will be covered by existing European Waste Catalogue classification under "waste packaging".

The following table shows the main differences between Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) and the schemes operating in Finland, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and Australia.

As of Friday 28 April 2023, there were the following Scottish Government civil servants primarily working on Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).

We are supporting local authorities to prepare for the introduction of the scheme. Our scheme will mean that local authorities will have less waste to handle, as well as reduce litter and associated clean-up costs, which is good for residents and council budgets. The Scottish Government is supporting Scottish councils to modernise recycling services, and align with our forthcoming deposit return scheme.

The Scottish Government has met regularly with representatives of local authority waste management via the DRS System-Wide Assurance Group that met 13 times since February 2022. Local authorities remain a key partner and will continue to be part of the programme management structures.

The most recent survey of young people about substance use shows the vast majority of teenagers do not take drugs. Similarly the 2021 Scottish Health Survey ( ) provides general information on substance use and indicates that use of nitrous oxide remains low in Scotland.

Nonetheless, we are taking forward substance use education work in our schools through Curriculum for Excellence. Children and young people learn about a variety of substances including alcohol, medicines, drugs, tobacco and solvents. They will explore the impact risk taking behaviour has on life choices and health.

We hope by educating children and young people about substance use and the impact it can have on their life and health, this will prevent them making unhealthy choices.

It is for individual businesses to determine whether or not they wish to sell products in Scotland following the launch of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that businesses of all sizes can participate in our DRS. As part of this I announced on Thursday 20 April 2023 in Parliament that changes are to be made to the DRS Regulations so that any product which sells less than 5,000 articles a year in Scotland will no longer have to place a deposit on the product. This change was asked for by business and will apply to producers of all sizes. However, it will particularly help small producers and hospitality businesses.

In May 2018 a group of civil servants visited Norway to learn more about the country’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS). Total costs for this trip were £862.33.

The learning acquired on this trip helped to inform the early work undertaken to develop Scotland’s DRS.