Consumers in Scotland will have to pay a 20p deposit on every bottle or drinks can they buy from shops under an ambitious new scheme unveiled by the Scottish government.

The deposit return scheme, the first national scheme in the UK, will cover glass and plastic bottles, as well as aluminium and steel drinks cans, sold from any shop in Scotland.

It will cover single use bottles ranging from a 50ml whisky or vodka miniature to three-litre bottles of cider. Every can or bottle in a multipack of beer, water or cola will also attract the 20p charge.

It will include online retailers too, with only restaurants and pubs selling drinks for consumption on the premises excluded. Scottish government officials said they did not yet know whether it would include mobile food or ice cream vans.

Roseanna Cunningham, the Scottish environment secretary, has refused to exempt small shops from the new scheme, leading to immediate protests from retailers, who are already affected by minimum pricing for alcoholic drinks.

Retailer groups were furious that small corner shops would lose shelf space to install return machines and have to oversee refunds for every purchase. They indicated they would lobby hard for exemptions once ministers publish draft legislation later this year.

Cunningham defended the extent of the measures. “There is a global climate emergency and people across Scotland have been calling, rightly, for more ambition to tackle it and safeguard our planet for future generations,” she said.

She said international evidence showed “a well-run, appropriately targeted scheme could improve the environment, change attitudes to recycling and litter, and support a more circular economy”.

Calum Duncan, from the Marine Conservation Society, said glass had been found littering the country’s beaches during the MCS’s latest cleanup campaign, adding that he was delighted the scheme spanned all these materials.

“Scotland is now ahead of the game and and the rest of the UK must follow,” he said

Willie Mackenzie, an oceans campaigner for Greenpeace, said the measures were welcome and urged the UK government to follow suit in England and Wales. “Crucially, Scotland’s scheme will be far-reaching and include glass bottles, which is what the public supports and will drastically boost recycling collection rates,” he said.

The Federation of Small Businesses said they were dismayed ministers had not allowed the smallest retailers to opt out, as they had believed would happen.

Colin Borland, the FSB’s director of devolved nations, said: “We’re unhappy that the Scottish government hasn’t taken on board our concerns, despite a commitment to address the problems such a scheme poses for small retailers. Ministers need to explain to those that run the smallest shops how this scheme will work for them.”

Ewan MacDonald-Russell, the head of policy for the Scottish Retail Consortium, estimated it would cost £100m to buy and install the machines to take and store returned bottles and cans. Adding glass bottles to the scheme could make it unachievable, he said, while some people could get deposits refunded to them for drinks bought in England.

“That will impose enormous costs on retailers and producers,” he said. “These decisions mean this scheme risks hampering retailers without effectively delivering the environmental improvements we all want to see.”