Diary of a Shopkeeper, 19th February

In terms of climate change, grapevines are canaries in the coalmine. They’re sensitive plants that only thrive in a narrow temperature range, and with just enough water in the soil – too little and they wither, too much and they rot.

It’s no surprise, then, that winemakers are extremely environmentally conscious. Every winery I’ve visited is engaged in innovations like rainwater capture and waste water recycling, gravity-fed winemaking to reduce energy use, solar and wind generation for power, and changing to lightweight bottles or away from glass entirely. New Zealand is a world leader in this respect, with over 96% of its wine being produced from certified sustainable vineyards.

Everyone in the wine supply chain is supportive of the winemakers’ efforts, and does what they can in their own area. For example, leading importer Liberty Wines, where we get most of our Italian and Australian wines from. They’re a Carbon Neutral Plus organisation, offsetting more emissions than they generate. Their transport and distribution are carbon neutral. 100% of their waste is recycled or used for electricity generation, and 100% of their electricity comes from renewable sources.

You’d think, with all this enthusiasm for a greener business model, the wine trade would be keen on the Deposit Return Scheme about to be being launched by the Scottish Government. In fact, the opposite is the case. I haven’t met a single producer, importer, distributor or retailer who thinks it fit for purpose.

It’s incredibly complicated. Several national organisations must be engaged with: Zero Waste Scotland, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Circularity Scotland, and Biffa. Circularity Scotland alone offers 44 documents to read and act on. Some, like ‘Interface Design & Specification RVMs and Counting Centres’ are a mere 16 pages long. Others, like ‘Explaining the Producer Fee, Charges and Invoicing’ are 60 pages! Not all documents will be relevant to a shop like mine, but which are and which aren’t is impossible to know without reading them. That’s about 1,000 pages in total, which is not a morning’s work for a shopkeeper. It’s a month’s work for a team of corporate lawyers.

Matters are not helped by the fact that so much of the text is like this: ‘The data format tables in the body of the document are compliant with this by describing a base Object that comprises the data associated with the message. That Object contains data in one of the base JSON types (String, Number, Boolean).’ To which I can only respond with a four letter word. Namely, ‘What?’

I’m torn between the wish to understand and act responsibility, and the impossibly of knowing what that entails. Especially when the paperwork is peppered with phrases like, ‘Please note that once you start the application, you will no longer be able to go back.’ It’s a Kafkaesque nightmare. The regulations are impossible to understand, yet you’re fined or excluded if you don’t follow them exactly.

In October 2019, I attended a presentation by Zero Waste Scotland in The Orkney Hotel with about 20 other businesses and public body representatives. With, I think, one exception, we all welcomed the idea of a deposit scheme in principle. But we pointed out many problems with the scheme in general, and specifically with its implementation in rural or island areas. We were assured by Zero Waste that all our concerns would be noted and answered in full before the scheme went live. Now, with that just weeks away, I’m still unaware of how the scheme is going to work here in many respects. So, I suspect, are its organisers.

The Scottish Government should be pushing at an open door. A scheme that had been properly consulted on, clearly drafted, and effectively communicated, would have gained the support of the whole industry. Instead, they are receiving almost universal pushback. The launch of the Deposit Return Scheme needs to delayed until it’s fit for purpose. At that point - and not before - I will support it wholeheartedly.

This diary appeared in The Orcadian on 22nd February 2023. A new one appears weekly. I post them in this blog a few days after each newspaper appearance, with added illustrations., and occasional small corrections or additions.