---
title: "Scotland's Deposit Return Scheme Monitoring and Evaluation: Consumer Research"
ocid: "ocds-r6ebe6-0000704284"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-r6ebe6-0000704284"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000704284.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000704284.json"
source: "Public Contracts Scotland"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT"
published: "2022-11-03"
---

# Scotland's Deposit Return Scheme Monitoring and Evaluation: Consumer Research

Buyer: SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-r6ebe6-0000704284

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## Summary

The Scottish Government has awarded a contract for the procurement process titled "Scotland's Deposit Return Scheme Monitoring and Evaluation: Consumer Research" to The Union Advertising Agency Ltd. The procurement stage is complete, with a contract value of £99,466 signed on October 31, 2022. The contracting authority is the Scottish Government based in Glasgow. The industry category for this procurement is services. The contract aims to monitor changes in consumer behaviours and recycling rates related to the Deposit Return Scheme in Scotland.

This tender provides an opportunity for businesses in the services industry, particularly those experienced in consumer research and waste management, to engage with the Scottish Government's Deposit Return Scheme project. Companies with expertise in behavioural analysis, market research, and environmental sustainability are well-suited to compete. The procurement method used is an open procedure, allowing fair competition among potential suppliers. The deadline for tender submissions was October 4, 2022, offering a chance for businesses to contribute to advancing sustainable practices in Scotland.

## Notice

5. DRS items are defined as drink packages that contain at least 50 millilitres and no more than 3 litres of liquid, come in a single-use container made of PET plastic, steel and aluminium, or glass, and are sealed in an airtight and watertight state at the point of sale and regardless of whether it is sold alone or as a unit in a multipack. Single-use containers are defined as packaging for a drink that is not conceived, designed or placed on the market to accomplish, within its life span, multiple refills by a consumer or multiple trips or rotations by being returned to a producer to be refilled by that producer for the same purpose for which it was conceived. Non-DRS items are defined as articles first made available to be marketed, offered for sale or sold by the producer on or after 16 August 2023 but that do not meet the criteria described above (e.g. high density poly ethylene (HDPE) plastic containers, the kind used for milk and some other drinks, or lined cardboard containers like Tetrapak). 6. Defining 'consumer' will also be important as in most policy areas this would be deemed to be an adult who purchases a drink (consumption in economic terms). For DRS policy, consumer is also defined as someone who drinks that drink (consumption in behavioural terms). Because it is the behavioural consumer who is likely to make decisions on how to dispose of the packaging, we suggest that consumer should be defined in behavioural terms. This presents the question: if the market mechanism acts on the purchaser but the behaviour is expected of the drinker, are there sufficiently strong mechanisms acting between the purchaser and the drinker to ensure the packaging is returned? Young people (e.g. people of school age) are likely to be consumers of out-of-home packaged drinks bought with their carers' money. Consideration should therefore be given to also including people below 18 years of age in the definition of consumer for the purpose of consumer surveys and other research with consumers. 7. DRS is seen as a way of achieving a desired step change in the quantities of waste collected for recycling, with the best performing schemes in the world achieving a capture rate of up to 95%. Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) previously commissioned a survey of adults to form the basis of a segmentation exercise. The survey asked some very relevant questions that could be used in a baseline questionnaire.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

Aims 11. The primary aim of this work is to design and deliver quantitative and qualitative research to study the impact of DRS on consumers of packaged drinks in Scotland by monitoring changes over time (before and after DRS launch) in: - packaged drinks purchasing/consumption behaviours - recycling behaviours (including recycling at home, taking items used at home to a recycling point, recycling items when away from home) - use of council recycling services for paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, plastic pots, tubs and trays, plastic film, glass, metals tins and cans, aerosols, foil - barriers to recycling at home and away from home - consumer understanding of DRS - perceived availability of DRS return points to consumers - perceived accessibility of DRS return points to consumers - perceived acceptability of DRS return points to consumers (i.e. perceptions of convenience, user-friendliness, operational viability); - usage of return points by consumers - barriers to the use of DRS 12. The research should also aim to assess whether there are any implications of DRS for equity. Exploring differential impacts across socio-demographic and equalities groups as well as across island, mainland, rural, urban, more deprived and less deprived geographies is an important aim of this project. 13. The research should focus on packaged drinks containers purchased within Scotland; materials of interest, under the DRS regulations, should be considered alongside non-DRS items to account for any behavioural spillover effects. 14. It is our intention that a baseline survey will be conducted before DRS launch (and preferably before DRS-related publicity starts in early 2023), and that similar exercises will be undertaken 6 months post-launch (likely to be 2024) and again at 18 months post-launch (likely in 2025). The exact dates and timetable of this will need to be agreed with the project manager. The two follow up surveys will include specific focus/questions on consumers' use of DRS which are not applicable before the scheme launches. Qualitative research should add value to survey data - e.g. it can help get a deeper understanding of quantitative results and/or provide an avenue for hard-to-reach, underrepresented groups to participate in the research. Reports, raw quantitative data and a report on methodology will need to be delivered as part of this multi-year procurement which will feed into a longer-term and broader evaluation of the DRS scheme that will consider other elements beyond consumer behaviours. 15. A representative sample of the population in Scotland is a key requirement for the surveys, but tenderers are asked to provide details and rationale if they propose to oversample any groups (see 'Methods' for more details). The data should be weighted to reflect known patterns of non-response bias and for other sub-group profiles of the population. Qualitative research can be used to account for experiences of groups that may be under-represented in surveys. 16. The below table represents a high-level theory of change for increasing the quantity of waste collected and sent for recycling.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Public Contracts Scotland |
| Latest notice | https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=NOV463315 |
| Notice type | PCS Notice - Website Contract Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Open |
| Procurement method details | Open procedure |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 3 Nov 2022 |
| Submission deadline | 4 Oct 2022 |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 31 Oct 2022 |
| Contract period | 1 Nov 2022 - 31 Aug 2025 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £99,466 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| Awards status | Not specified |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT |
| Locality | EDINBURGH |
| Post town | Edinburgh |
| Postcode | EH1 3DG |
| Country | Scotland |
| ITL 1 | TLM Scotland |
| ITL 2 | TLM3 West Central Scotland |
| ITL 3 | TLM32 Glasgow City |
| Local authority | Glasgow City |
| Electoral ward | Anderston/City/Yorkhill |
| Westminster constituency | Glasgow North |
| Delivery location | TLM Scotland |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | THE UNION ADVERTISING AGENCY |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 73 - Research and development services and related consultancy services

### Codes

- 73000000 - Research and development services and related consultancy services

## Release History

- 3 Nov 2022 at 00:00 - Award - PCS Notice - Website Contract Award Notice - https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=NOV463315
- 23 Aug 2022 at 00:00 - Tender - PCS Notice - Website Contract Notice - https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=AUG457005

## Documents

- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/NoticeDownload/DownloadDocument.aspx?id=AUG457005&idx=1
  23rd August 2022 - RESAS/021/22 - ITT
- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=AUG457005
  Scotland's Deposit Return Scheme Monitoring and Evaluation: Consumer Research - 5. DRS items are defined as drink packages that contain at least 50 millilitres and no more than 3 litres of liquid, come in a single-use container made of PET plastic, steel and aluminium, or glass, and are sealed in an airtight and watertight state at the point of sale and regardless of whether it is sold alone or as a unit in a multipack. Single-use containers are defined as packaging for a drink that is not conceived, designed or placed on the market to accomplish, within its life span, multiple refills by a consumer or multiple trips or rotations by being returned to a producer to be refilled by that producer for the same purpose for which it was conceived. Non-DRS items are defined as articles first made available to be marketed, offered for sale or sold by the producer on or after 16 August 2023 but that do not meet the criteria described above (e.g. high density poly ethylene (HDPE) plastic containers, the kind used for milk and some other drinks, or lined cardboard containers like Tetrapak). 6. Defining 'consumer' will also be important as in most policy areas this would be deemed to be an adult who purchases a drink (consumption in economic terms). For DRS policy, consumer is also defined as someone who drinks that drink (consumption in behavioural terms). Because it is the behavioural consumer who is likely to make decisions on how to dispose of the packaging, we suggest that consumer should be defined in behavioural terms. This presents the question: if the market mechanism acts on the purchaser but the behaviour is expected of the drinker, are there sufficiently strong mechanisms acting between the purchaser and the drinker to ensure the packaging is returned? Young people (e.g. people of school age) are likely to be consumers of out-of-home packaged drinks bought with their carers' money. Consideration should therefore be given to also including people below 18 years of age in the definition of consumer for the purpose of consumer surveys and other research with consumers. 7. DRS is seen as a way of achieving a desired step change in the quantities of waste collected for recycling, with the best performing schemes in the world achieving a capture rate of up to 95%. Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) previously commissioned a survey of adults to form the basis of a segmentation exercise. The survey asked some very relevant questions that could be used in a baseline questionnaire.
- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=NOV463315
  Scotland's Deposit Return Scheme Monitoring and Evaluation: Consumer Research - 5. DRS items are defined as drink packages that contain at least 50 millilitres and no more than 3 litres of liquid, come in a single-use container made of PET plastic, steel and aluminium, or glass, and are sealed in an airtight and watertight state at the point of sale and regardless of whether it is sold alone or as a unit in a multipack. Single-use containers are defined as packaging for a drink that is not conceived, designed or placed on the market to accomplish, within its life span, multiple refills by a consumer or multiple trips or rotations by being returned to a producer to be refilled by that producer for the same purpose for which it was conceived. Non-DRS items are defined as articles first made available to be marketed, offered for sale or sold by the producer on or after 16 August 2023 but that do not meet the criteria described above (e.g. high density poly ethylene (HDPE) plastic containers, the kind used for milk and some other drinks, or lined cardboard containers like Tetrapak). 6. Defining 'consumer' will also be important as in most policy areas this would be deemed to be an adult who purchases a drink (consumption in economic terms). For DRS policy, consumer is also defined as someone who drinks that drink (consumption in behavioural terms). Because it is the behavioural consumer who is likely to make decisions on how to dispose of the packaging, we suggest that consumer should be defined in behavioural terms. This presents the question: if the market mechanism acts on the purchaser but the behaviour is expected of the drinker, are there sufficiently strong mechanisms acting between the purchaser and the drinker to ensure the packaging is returned? Young people (e.g. people of school age) are likely to be consumers of out-of-home packaged drinks bought with their carers' money. Consideration should therefore be given to also including people below 18 years of age in the definition of consumer for the purpose of consumer surveys and other research with consumers. 7. DRS is seen as a way of achieving a desired step change in the quantities of waste collected for recycling, with the best performing schemes in the world achieving a capture rate of up to 95%. Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) previously commissioned a survey of adults to form the basis of a segmentation exercise. The survey asked some very relevant questions that could be used in a baseline questionnaire.

## Notice URLs

- http://
- http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk
- http://www.scotland.gov.uk
- https://api.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/v1/Notice?id=ocds-r6ebe6-0000704284

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-r6ebe6-0000704284. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000704284.json.