Scotland’s recycling scheme ignites new constitutional wrangle with Westminster

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The Scottish first minister has accused the UK government of undermining devolution and disrespecting his country’s parliament after London asked Edinburgh to exclude glass from its planned recycling programme.

The dispute threatens to spark yet another constitutional battle between governments and jeopardizes the viability of a scheme that the Scottish government insists is key to achieving its goal of net-zero emissions by 2045.

Humza Yousaf, the Scottish first minister, said the UK government spent most of Friday briefing the media on its decision to exclude glass from the scheme before briefing its administration late Friday evening.

“It’s their way or the highway, which doesn’t respect devolution,” he said Saturday.

A person familiar with the discussions at Westminster said it was “nonsense” to suggest that London disrespected devolution and insisted the offer made to the Scottish Government was “reasonable and pragmatic”. “Ultimately, we want a UK-wide solution that does not place unnecessary burdens on business and reduces consumer choice.”

The glass dispute is the latest row between London and Edinburgh after Rishi Sunak’s government in January blocked a Scottish law to make it easier for trans people to get legal recognition of their gender, which the Scottish government is challenging in court.

Westminster has also consistently blocked pro-independence party Scottish National’s bid for a repeat of a 2014 referendum in which Scots voted 55% to 45% to remain in the UK.

Scotland’s deposit return scheme, due to launch next March, seeks to improve recycling rates by charging consumers a 20p deposit for single-use beverage containers. They can reclaim the money by returning empty containers via machines in supermarkets.

Edinburgh’s plan to roll out its program earlier than other parts of the UK has sparked concern in London that it would create trade barriers between England and Scotland because consumers would be charged different prices for the same product on both sides of the border.

THE beverage industry he warned that having different bottling and labeling rules for Scotland would raise prices at a time when consumers and businesses are grappling with a cost-of-living crisis. They added that the scheme was also poorly designed and impractical.

For the scheme to work, London would need to exclude it from legislation ensuring businesses face the same post-Brexit rules across Britain. Without an exclusion from the UK’s internal market law, the scheme would not be feasible as it would not apply to drinks bottled outside Scotland, which make up the majority of sales in the country.

The UK government said on Saturday it would give approval for Scotland’s scheme to roll out ahead of the rest of Britain, but has sought changes to ensure it ‘aligns with schemes planned for the rest of the UK’.

Ministers want the Scottish scheme to exclude glass to be in line with that planned for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, due to be launched in 2025. Westminster fears that the inclusion of glass in Scotland will create a permanent trade barrier with the rest of the UK.

Lorna Slater, Scotland’s economy minister whose Scottish Greens govern with Yousaf’s SNP in Holyrood, said on Saturday London had shown ‘total disregard for devolution’ and that Edinburgh now ‘should look very seriously’ at the project’s viability .