A new development to encourage recycling trailed in Conwy by a Deeside company has been welcomed by Members of Senedd

Conwy Council’s Gofer waste bulking centre near Abergele was visited by MS Sam Rowlands and Aberconwy MS Janet Finch-Saunders where they saw the developing Digital Deposit Return Scheme in action.

The scheme will help recycling by having packaging printed with an identifier which can be scanned by a home-owner using an app on their smart phones before it goes into their recycling bin.

They can then claim their deposit back without having to take their used recyclable’s to a physical location like a supermarket to claim it back.  The packaging is then recovered by councils through their kerbside waste collection and then recycled.

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This system has been developed by Polytag, which is based at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre on the Deeside Industrial Estate and in mid-2021 they worked with Conwy County Borough Council to trial a Digital Deposit Return Scheme in Colwyn Heights.

The company’s latest development is a prototype scanner which could be attached to recycling equipment in local authority recycling plants to pick up information from the unique barcodes printed on most items. 

MS Sam Rowlands said: “I was very pleased to visit the site and see at first-hand how this innovative system, developed by Deeside based Polytag, has the potential to help us all to recycle more, and be rewarded for it!

“I had the pleasure of visiting the company earlier this year when they were working on a deposit return scheme project, to help us to recycle more which is something the Welsh Government wants to introduce. A successful trial was run in Colwyn Heights by Conwy County Borough Council last year.

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“As the former Leader of Conwy County Borough Council I was involved in preparing the groundwork for the trial which was successfully piloted in 2021.

“This week I was able to see for myself how this new development will be able to scan unique barcodes on most items and allow businesses to track their own waste. This will also make it easier for residents to be rewarded for their recycling.”

Mrs Finch-Saunders, Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Climate Change said: “I have been proud to have brought forward a legislative proposal in the Welsh Parliament for a bill that would make provisions to introduce a Deposit Return Scheme and reduce waste. Crucially, this gained cross-party support after twelve years of delay.

“Polytag’s trial in Conwy County was a great success. They had a 97% engagement rate!

“There has been increased interest in whether glass bottles should be included in a DRS. I am pleased to agree with Polytag that glass should be part of the scheme in Wales.

“Recycling glass bottles lowers the risk of injury to people and wildlife as well as reducing our environmental impact. In fact, by including glass in Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme there will be a reduction in CO2eq emissions of more than 50,000 tonnes each year – or nearly 1.3 million tonnes over 25 years!

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“Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme will help tackle the plague of glass bottles littering communities because its inclusion of glass will see the recycling of an additional 53,000 tonnes of containers. It would be fantastic to see such a boost to recycling here in Wales too.”