Discussions are underway to find "alternative solutions" for small-scale beverage importers worried about an upcoming bottle recycling scheme they say will financially cripple them. 

Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia said the government was in talks with various stakeholders to find a solution to the impasse.

Four solutions had been proposed and the government favoured one of them, he said. The minister declined to elaborate on the government's favoured course of action. 

Small importers say that a beverage recycling scheme that is due to begin in April will disproportionately affect them, as they will be required to pay a €100 fee for every type of beverage imported, irrespective of how many they sell. 

Importers have said that the fee will spell the end of the local craft drinks sector, which is focused on a large variety of beverages imported in limited quantities. 

They have also spoken with concern about the composition of BCRS Ltd., a private consortium that has been given a licence to operate the scheme. BCRS directors represent Malta's biggest names in the beverage sector, including Farsons, General Soft Drinks, Marsovin, Charles Grech Ltd. and P. Cutajar & Co, among others.  

BCRS has said that it is willing to waive the €100 fee that small importers are objecting to, provided the government steps in to financially assist the company.

The company wants the government to waive the first year of an annual €230,00 licencing fee, help it bankroll its capital expenditure and pledge proper enforcement of the recycling system. 

The government had not commented on the dispute until Times of Malta sought Farrugia's reaction on Friday. 

He insisted the main takeaway was finally having the system for recycling single-use beverage containers up and running. 

“In April, the consortium will have all the machines in place to begin operating and that way we can start collecting 70 per cent of what is placed on the market,” he said. 

First announced in 2017, the beverage recycling scheme will increase the cost of beverages sold in steel aluminium, glass or plastic containers by 10c, which consumers must recycle at specifically set up machines in order to recoup that charge. 

The government is hoping to collect and recycle 70 per cent of single-use beverage containers by 2022, rising to 90 per cent by 2026.