The letter was sent by the chiefs of twelve small and medium sized Welsh household drinks brands, spanning alcohol, soft drinks, and bottled waters, from every corner of Wales.
Names include family run Welsh food and drink success story Radnor Hills in Knighton, the Welsh mountains still water brand Brecon Carreg in Llandeilo, and the largest independent brewery in Wales, Brains Brewery in Cardiff.
The intervention follows significant delays to a process that wrapped up in England in May 2025.
The new Plaid administration in Cardiff has inherited these uncertain circumstances from the previous Welsh government, which sought to diverge from the rest of the United Kingdom’s DRS by including glass bottles in the Welsh scheme.
With just 15 months until the UK scheme is launched by Exchange for Change – the appointed administrator for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland – the letter echoes wider industry calls urging the Welsh government to follow suit by appointing the organisation in Wales.
In the letter, the bosses argue that this is the only way to avoid the risk that the country does not have an operational scheme when the rest of the UK goes live in October 2027.
The bosses also cite industry analysis which suggests including full-scale glass collection from day one of the scheme could add up to 50 pence to every single glass bottled drink sold in Wales.
They warn that this might mean “higher prices for Welsh shoppers as well as fewer glass products on Welsh shelves, fewer viable Welsh businesses like ours, and fewer Welsh jobs”.