Exchange for Change confirms Return Handling Fee for UK Deposit Return Scheme

Exchange for Change, the organisation responsible for delivering the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, has announced the Return Handling Fee (RHF) that will be paid to return point operators when the scheme launches in October 2027.

The RHF is a payment made to retailers operating return points, intended to reimburse the costs associated with collecting and storing in-scope beverage containers. This includes investment in equipment, staff training and the use of retail space for return operations.

Grocery retailers with premises over 100m2 are required, under the legislation, to host return points. But smaller shops, or other venues such as cafes or leisure centres, may choose to do so voluntarily.

The RHF will apply across both manual and automatic return points and is tiered to reflect the volume of containers returned.

Following industry consultation, the RHF has been set as follows:

• Manual return points: 3p per container
• Automatic return points:
• • Tier 1: 5p per container for up to 225,000 in-scope items returned annually
  • Tier 2: 1.3p per container for volumes exceeding 225,000 items annually

Russell Davies, CEO of Exchange for Change, said the fees had been developed in response to feedback from across the supply chain:

“We have taken on board a wide range of feedback provided by retailers, producers and trade bodies, and established a return handling fee that reflects the complexities of the UK retail landscape and ensures the scheme remains in balance.

The UK’s retail landscape is unique in the world, spanning large supermarket chains, medium-sized franchises and a very high ratio of small and independent convenience stores comparative to other nations.

This means the network of return points across the UK will be extensive, and the nature of collections will range from small convenience stores manually collecting and returning a small amount of containers, through to large multinational supermarket chains operating multiple reverse vending machines that collect several thousand containers each week at every store.”

The RHF will be reviewed ahead of the scheme’s launch, with an initial review planned for early next year. Thereafter, the fee will be assessed annually, using operational data gathered from producers and retailers to refine assumptions and improve the robustness of the model over time.

The disbursement of RHFs should mean that retailers and other return point hosts are fully compensated for the costs associated with hosting container takeback and any loss of retail space. However, grocery retailers who supply their own-branded drinks should also consider whether they are obligated as a producer under DRS – and if so, the associated fees. If there is any doubt, who can help confirm any obligations you may have.