Exchange For Change has today confirmed the fees to be paid to return point operators under the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, ahead of its launch in October 2027.

Following industry consultation, the fees have been set at 3p per container for manual return points. For automatic return points, the structure is split into two tiers: 5p per container for up to 225,000 in-scope items returned annually and 1.3p per container for volumes above that threshold.

Russell Davies, Exchange For Change CEO said: “We have taken onboard a wide range of feedback provided by retailers, producers and trade bodies and established a return handling fee (RHF) 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 reflects this diversity in our retail sector, and delivers a fair scheme for all.”

Responding to the announcement, Travis Way, managing director at reverse vending machine specialist EcoVend, said the confirmation of return handling fees provided retailers with greater clarity on the financial framework of the scheme and would help support investment decisions and operational planning ahead of its 2027 launch.

He welcomed the tiered structure, noting that it recognised the differing circumstances of retailers based on size and return volumes, while the distinction between manual return points and reverse vending machine operators should help keep the scheme practical and accessible across the retail sector.

Way also said the planned review of fees before launch and on an ongoing basis would be important to ensure the structure reflects real-world operating costs and supports participation levels needed to achieve strong container return rates.

The RHF will be reviewed early next year prior to the scheme going live, and it will continue to be reviewed annually to take account of new data available from producers and retailers, as well as to consider other relevant factors.

The annual review will use real data collected during operation of the scheme, which will build a profile of the RHF and factors that impact it, thereby ensuring the assumptions and data inputs become more robust every year.