THE firm which was due to oversee Scotland’s deposit return scheme (DRS) has appointed administrators in the wake of the scheme being delayed again.
Speaking in parliament, circular economy minister Lorna Slater said, “We have learnt today that a process is underway to appoint administrators to CSL (Circularity Scotland Limited), leaving their staff in an extremely difficult position.”
The minister continued by saying that it comes as an ‘unforgivable consequence’ of the UK Government’s ‘eleventh hour intervention’ to stop glass being included in the scheme.
She added that the intervention ‘undermined’ the Scottish Government’s scheme, made progress ‘impossible’, and is now resulting in jobs being lost at Circularity Scotland.
The news follows the announcement that Scotland’s DRS would be delayed until at least October 2025, with the Scottish Government stating that the delay comes as a consequence of the UK Government’s ‘refusal’ to agree to a full exclusion from the internal market act.
Circularity Scotland was appointed as administrator of the scheme in March 2021. At the time of the appointment, DRS was due to go live in July 2022. However, issues surrounding Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic meant that the date was pushed back.
