Beer keg deposit plan to hit by 2008
A plan to charge licensees deposits of around £50 on kegs is now expected to be implemented at the end of the year.
The call to have a deposit scheme in place as a matter of urgency came last week after Brewers Logistic Management (BLM), which owned Coors' kegs, went into administration.
We want a scheme that won't have an adverse financial impact on those who return containers to usGraham Slight distribution director of Coors UK.
BLM director Stuart Facey said the company's collapse "highlights the major issue of keg and cask loss in the pub trade".
Graham Slight, chairman of the British Beer & Pub Association-backed working party looking into the problem, said they hope to have an outline of proposals ready for June.
The BBPA would then discuss these and decide what action to take.
The BBPA's director of brewing David Long said he expected it to be the end of the year before the scheme went live.
Slight, who is distribution director of Coors UK, said the main area of discussion was setting the right level for deposits. "We want a scheme that will put a value on the containers so people look after them, but that won't have an adverse financial impact on those who return containers to us," he said.
