Deposit return scheme faces opposition

04 March 2023

Scotland's proposed Deposit Return Scheme, already postponed from last August to August this year, has run into stiff opposition from various sources, particularly drinks producers fearful of unspecified increased costs and the possibility of being unable to sell their products in Scotland.

Lorna Slater, the Green Party Scottish Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity, has insisted that the scheme will go ahead as planned in August, but her position has been somewhat undermined by the fact that all three contenders for the SNP leadership have said that they would not implement the scheme in its current form in August.

Read more at  Environment / Recycling and Waste
 

Not closely related, but indicative of a similar lack of willingness to embrace serious attempts to address environmental problems - waste and litter, toxic air pollution - is the degree of opposition to the proposed expansion of London's Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to a large area of outer London.

Transport for London    reasons for the expansion

The Guardian   ‘We need to change, whether we like it or not’
27 February     (with map)

Borough of Hillingdon  Councils challenge ULEZ expansion in the courts
16 February