Shoppers asked to manually put stickers on some bottles to claim 20p deposit back

Shoppers will have to stick labels on some bottles themselves to claim back their 20p under the Scottish Government’s Deposit Return Scheme.

Green minister Lorna Slater has admitted some products will see consumers having to put DIY barcodes on drinks cartons.

Small producers are facing massive bills to get their containers ready to be part of Scotland’s controversial DRS.

But organisers are allowing them to have adhesive barcodes to keep costs down.

However, now Miss Slater has told MSPs that it might be down to the public to stick the labels on if they want their deposits back.

In a letter to Holyrood’s Net Zero, Energy & Transport Committee, she wrote: “Producers have two methods of utilising these labels: applying them to their products before despatch into the supply chain [or] including the label within the packaging of the product so that the consumer can apply the label just before returning the container for redemption.”

Last night, critics said the latest revelation proves DRS remains a shambles, less than five months before it is due to go live on August 16.

Edinburgh-based whisky expert Blair Bowman said: “The minister may think she has devised a clever ‘solution’ but yet again it is only causing more problems. The whole thing is nonsensical.”

First Minister Humza Yousaf has committed to pressing ahead with DRS, despite warnings from the retail and drinks industries over costs and complexities.

Scheme administrator Circularity Scotland (CSL) has admitted not all the infrastructure will be in place for August 16.

Chief executive David Harris told MSPs this week: “We identified that the period September to October 2023 was deliverable… that is the timetable that we are now working to.”

Hundreds of producers are estimated to have missed or ignored the February 28 deadline to sign up.

One of them, the Three Blind Mice brewery in Cambridgeshire, has withdrawn its beers from Scotland, claiming it is too costly to take part.

Its products will now carry “Not for sale in Scotland” labels – and there are fears many others will follow suit.

Many of the problems stem from Scotland setting up its own DRS two years ahead of the rest of the UK.

It means producers will have to come up with different packaging for their products according to which part of Britain they are to be sold in, or face additional fees.

For many small firms, those costs would be prohibitive, so, last February, CSL announced there will be stick-on barcodes for those placing fewer than 25,000 units on the Scottish market per year. Circular Economy minister Miss Slater has estimated 15,000 products will end up carrying them.

Scottish Conservative MSP Maurice Golden – convener of Holyrood’s cross-party group on the Circular Economy – said: “The idea that consumers have to stick on their own label to a used bottle is farcical. It says it all about the implementation of a disastrous scheme that’s been made worse by the incredible incompetence of those in charge of it.

“It is, quite literally, a sticking-plaster solution.

“Every time Lorna Slater opens her mouth about this scheme another unintended consequence reveals itself. Humza Yousaf must now stop this shambolic policy in its tracks and start again.

“There is good potential for a successful DRS to run but the SNP and Greens have made a hellish mess of the whole thing.”

Bowman said responsibility for sticking the labels on products will likely fall more on consumers because of the time it would take producers and importers to do the job.

He added: “It again just reeks of CSL and the ministers making it up as they go along and having no understanding of how the real world actually works.”

Scottish Labour’s Net Zero spokesman Colin Smyth said: “The DRS has descended into a complete farce.”

CSL said: “The aim is to provide a simple and straightforward administrative solution for independent producers and importers for whom the cost of changing packaging to introduce new barcodes could be prohibitive.”

The Scottish Government said: “Businesses should continue their preparations for its launch in August including, where appropriate, working with Circularity Scotland and their sector bodies.

“The self-adhesive labelling solution was introduced as part of a package responding directly to many of the concerns that have been raised.”