Circularity Scotland has announced an increase in some return handling fees ahead of the implementation of the country’s Deposit Return Scheme later this year.

When the scheme is introduced, a 20p deposit will be applied on all single use drinks containers sold in Scotland, which people get back when they take their bottles and cans to a return point.

Retailers and businesses will act as ‘return points’ and the return handling fee is the amount that they will be paid per container to cover their operational costs.

The amount businesses will receive has been recalculated following consultation with industry and independent analysis by PwC.

According to the Federation of Independent Retailers (the Fed), the fee for reverse vending machines has risen to 3.7p per returned container, up from 3.55p.

The fee for manual handling of containers will remain unchanged at 2.69p per item.

The Fed’s national deputy vice president Mo Razzaq – who has a convenience store in Glasgow – has been involved in discussions with Circularity Scotland.

He said: “We welcome the fact that our representations to Circularity Scotland have been heard and that they have listened to our concerns regarding the proposed handling fee for retailers who install reverse vending machines.

“However, some smaller shops will not have the space for a machine and will have to store returned containers manually.

“With this in mind, and in the interests of fairness, we would like to see the manual handling fee increased accordingly and we will continue to press Circularity Scotland to do so.”