Milked dry: Scottish dairy farmers slam UK Government glass bottle levy

Dairy farmers in Scotland say they’re being penalised for using glass bottles to store their milk due to a new UK Government levy.

The UK Government says the Extended Producer Responsibility levy is part of its commitment to crack down on waste.

The move aims to shift the costs of household recycling from councils back onto the companies using the packaging, generating around £1bn a year in fees.

However one family farm on the Isle of Gigha say the move means the days of milk supplied in bottles are numbered due to the fee.

Don Dennis from Wee Isle Dairy says the family deliberately chose glass bottles to be more sustainable.

He told STV News: “They’re shutting us down. The Government has decided it doesn’t want milk in glass bottles.

“The tax is so heavy on glass because it’s entirely based on weight. A one-litre glass bottle is around ten times the weight of a plastic equivalent.

“We’ve had to take the painful decision to stop at the end of this month as we run through the last pallet of bottles.”

Bryce Cunningham from Mossgiel Organic Farm says there’s been “little information” about the levy.

He told STV News: “We’re concerned. We’ve worked really hard since 2019, when we decided to stop using single-use plastic, saving 26 to 28 million pieces that would otherwise go to landfills.

“This has come down the line with very little information. I found out about it on a Facebook post.

“It seems to be a well-intentioned idea but the thought hasn’t been there for businesses like us trying to do the right thing.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “Through the extended producer responsibility scheme, we are incentivising businesses to use reusable packaging, which means they only pay the disposal fee the first time it’s supplied.

“As such, businesses reusing durable glass containers will only pay the fees once.”