Cash in your ‘glass cheques’: the end of the Irn Bru buy-back scheme is nigh

Come Hogmanay, returning Irn Bru's glass bottles will no longer give fans of "Scotland's other national drink" a 30p refund, ending the long-standing tradition of 'looking for luckies'

We were tiny treasure hunters, looking in hedges, on waste ground, in abandoned buildings, deep in the woods, or in "lucky middens". Our gold was empty Irn-Bru bottles, known as "glass cheques" because they could be cashed in for the deposit paid with every purchase. The bounty would often come in the form of a trade with local shops or the ice cream van and we would walk away with bags of sweets, crisps, and maybe a pokey hat (ice-cream cone).

But this form of recycling in Scotland is set to come to an end, marking not just a cultural shift but the loss of a potent symbol - the empty ginger bottle - and the traditions that go with it. On the stroke of midnight on Hogmanay this year, the 30p deposit or "buy back" paid on every glass bottle of manufacturer AG Barr's soft drinks will no longer be refundable. The makers of Irn"Bru - known as "Scotland's other national drink" - announced last August that the cash for empties system would be abandoned as it was no longer economical to wash, sterilise and refill the bottles.

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