A recycling technology business claims that digitalising Scotland’s deposit return scheme (DRS) could see the initiative integrate better into modern society and help meet ambitious carbon targets.
Deeside-headquartered Polytag recently held discussions with Conservative MSP Maurice Golden on the prospect of eliminating the need for physical infrastructure in Scotland’s DRS. Instead, the firm is recommending a QR code system that would be integrated into the traditional council kerbside recycling collection.
The move follows a successful trial in the Welsh neighbourhood of Colwyn Heights in the county of Conwy, where residents were given bottles of water that they were asked to scan upon placing them in their kerbside recycling containers. The bottles were scanned again upon collection by the council, which in turn generated a 20p digital token for the locals.
Polytag revealed that 97% of the 271 registered households returned at least one bottle, with 90% scanning four or more and 73% scanning all six.
If implemented across the UK, it would see brands adopt Polytag’s QR code on their labelling for households to scan, with the deposit being returned after each council waste collection – alleviating the need for trips to designated DRS machine points.
Speaking to Packaging Scotland, Polytag CEO Alice Rackley explained that Maurice Golden’s main concern about Scotland’s impending DRS is that the 10,000 vending machines and 37,000 take back points required become ‘stranded assets’.
“I think he’s right,” she added. “Technology is moving so quickly with what you can do through mobile phones and then matching that with serialised tags. There is a real risk that if Scotland only chooses to administer deposit return schemes using reverse vending machines, they may well be sat there idle in a few years’ time as more and more people become familiar with using their mobile phones instead.”
Added to that is the warning of an ‘incredibly large’ carbon debt, with Alice explaining that it’s expensive to manufacture reverse vending machines and they take up ‘a lot’ of carbon to produce as well as the need for a ‘whole new logistics set up’ of lorry networks to empty the machines.
“Everybody has a bin lorry turn up once a week anyway to empty their recycling, so why would we not just leverage that existing logistics network that the councils have got installed?” Alice added. “The councils are really not keen on reverse vending machines. Although we don’t think of recycling having any value when we stick it out on the pavement every Thursday morning, it is valuable to the councils – they actually make money from selling plastic and aluminium that they collect, and if you install 10,000 reverse vending machines in Scotland, you’re then saying to the councils: ‘You aren’t going to be getting any of this high value recycling material in your collection rounds anymore’.”
The Scottish Government recently announced that it intends to roll out DRS using return machines on 16 August 2023, following two previous delays. Alice said a ‘sensible’ estimation of when Polytag’s system could be rolled out across the entire UK would be 2024.
“In terms of could it be done any quicker, I’m not sure how long it takes to install 36,000 reverse vending machines across the UK,” Alice said. “But I certainly know that the barcodes that are out in circulation at the moment have a 12-month life cycle and so any changes to barcoding is really the key, critical path that would need to be considered alongside the installation of reverse vending machines – getting the product labelling sorted out for either regime is probably the thing that’s going to take the longest amount of time to figure out.”
Currently, it is the Welsh Government leading the charge in experimenting with digital DRS. It comes after Senedd Cymru unveiled plans in early 2021 to eventually become the world’s number one recycler.
“The Welsh Government is really supportive of what Polytag is doing,” Alice added, before telling of how the business was granted funded to help set up a residency at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in Chester.
“We’ve also just been given permission to install some of our kit in a bulking centre, so we can test it in real life and start to track bottles all the way through the circular economy – so we’re looking more broadly at extended consumer responsibility with the next phase of our development, which is really exciting for us and I think demonstrates the support that we’ve got to continue our work.”
Further to the potential of modernising the impending scheme, Alice said the accompanying Polytag app will also give households push notifications prior to the date of collection. Brands could also be in line to benefit from data that was not previously obtainable.
“Brands can get a really clearer idea of the life cycle of the product in consumer homes,” Alice explained. “At the moment most brands have no idea when a consumer will have finished with their product and puts it in the bin, so they might be designing their packaging or developing their products to have a certain life span in people’s homes – but if they could get hold of data how long the product in the consumer’s house for they may well do their product development or their packaging development in a slightly different way because they’ve got data now to base their decisions on.
“It’s potentially really, really helpful for consumers and brands.”
Following his meeting with Polytag, Maurice Golden Tweeted: ‘Delighted to meet @Polytag UK today to discuss Scotland’s deposit return system. It’s important ministers use the latest delay wisely to improve the system. So, it was interesting to hear how enhanced digital tracking could benefit both consumers and producers.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said, “Scotland’s deposit return scheme will allow people to return their empty drinks containers to one of tens of thousands of return points across the country. This model is simple and accessible and has already proven successful in schemes across Europe.
“The design of the scheme was determined following extensive consultation with the public and industry. Retailers are already trialling return infrastructure, and we look forward to seeing this roll out in earnest next summer.
“While the digital technology is not considered sufficiently mature at present, Circularity Scotland will keep in mind potential future developments when planning implementation, ensuring that Scotland’s scheme is future-proof.”
