Market research case study:
Digital deposit return scheme (DDRS) pilot

Sustainability client

The challenge

Every year UK consumers go through an estimated around 14 billion plastic drinks bottles and nine billion drinks cans, many of which are littered or condemned to landfill. The UK Government has set out plans to incentivise consumers to recycle their drinks bottles and cans, reducing litter and plastic pollution via a scheme where people can return their bottles/cans and receive cash back.

The new scheme, covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland, is set to be introduced in 2025, following extensive work with industry to prepare for the necessary changes and aims to ensure 85% fewer drinks containers are discarded as litter after three years of its launch. Traditional Deposit Return Schemes are based on a return-to-retailer model, however a pilot to trial a kerbside collection technology platform was instigated by our client and in addition to the quantitative data obtained via the technology additional qualitative insight was required to understand consumer perceptions and experiences of the scheme.

The approach

After recruiting hundreds of households to participate in the trial in a designated residential area of North Wales, a smaller sub-sample was invited to participate in a mobile ethnography study, followed by an interview, to provide an in-depth account of their user experience.

The results

Our research provided recommendations on DDRS education and communication needs, guidance on how to remove barriers to using the DDRS app and how to maximise engagement through optimising flexibility in the incentivisation for the scheme.

Digital deposit return scheme (DDRS) pilot case study image 1 Digital deposit return scheme (DDRS) pilot case study image 2
Digital deposit return scheme (DDRS) pilot case study image 2
Digital deposit return scheme (DDRS) pilot case study image 1

Case study:
Digital deposit return scheme (DDRS) pilot

Sustainability client

The challenge

Every year UK consumers go through an estimated around 14 billion plastic drinks bottles and nine billion drinks cans, many of which are littered or condemned to landfill. The UK Government has set out plans to incentivise consumers to recycle their drinks bottles and cans, reducing litter and plastic pollution via a scheme where people can return their bottles/cans and receive cash back.

The new scheme, covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland, is set to be introduced in 2025, following extensive work with industry to prepare for the necessary changes and aims to ensure 85% fewer drinks containers are discarded as litter after three years of its launch. Traditional Deposit Return Schemes are based on a return-to-retailer model, however a pilot to trial a kerbside collection technology platform was instigated by our client and in addition to the quantitative data obtained via the technology additional qualitative insight was required to understand consumer perceptions and experiences of the scheme.

The approach

The results

Our research provided recommendations on DDRS education and communication needs, guidance on how to remove barriers to using the DDRS app and how to maximise engagement through optimising flexibility in the incentivisation for the scheme.

Digital deposit return scheme (DDRS) pilot case study image 2

Client testimonial: Sustainability client

Sustainability

Digital deposit return scheme (DDRS) pilot case study image 2