WARRINGTON North MP Charlotte Nichols recently visited the Burtonwood-based Thomas Hardy Bottling Group to discuss Extended Producer responsibility (EPR ) and the Deposit Return Scheme.
She met with company Director Chris Ward to learn more about their operations which has undergone £34m investment in recent years and to discuss Government policy.
Thomas Hardy Bottling Group is a drinks manufacturing business based in Burtonwood, bottling famous household beers, alcopops and soft drinks. The British soft drink, brewing and pub industries generate £35 billion of economic value and support over 1 million jobs across the country.
Charlotte Nichols MP said: “It was fascinating to visit Thomas Hardy Bottling Group in Burtonwood to better understand their operation, hear about their plans for growth, and to discuss the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies and the impacts on the business.
It was hugely impressive seeing the scale and technology of the operation, and how many of our best known beverage brands are packaged here, like my very own episode of Inside The Factory!
Around £34m has been invested into the site in recent years, including bringing canning operations to the facility, which now give the site capacity to produce over 300 million bottles and 200 million cans every year.
The company is now looking at building extended storage on the site and making plans to ensure the site is carbon neutral by 2050. I look forward to seeing these plans come to fruition in the coming years.
On Government policy, Director Chris Ward informed me he is supportive of a producer lead DRS but has some concerns about the EPR. These concerns include lack of clarity on EPR fees and the commercial impact on beverages produced in glass bottles given they will be subject to an EPR levy from October 2025, whereas the implementation of DRS, for other beverage containers, won’t commence until October 2027. I am planning on raising these concerns with ministers in the coming weeks”.
Charlotte and the Labour Government supports a Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), which will mean drinks containers will be collected to be reused or recycled. In countries where this scheme has been implemented we see a rise in recycling rates of up to 90% and a significant drop in littering. The scheme is due to be in launched in the next few years.
The Government is also planning on implementing the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging which is about incentivising packaging producers to take financial responsibility for the end recycling of their products.