Circularity Scotland, formed to run the Scottish Government’s deposit return scheme, has its sights set on similar schemes for England and Wales.
And the company – described as a non-profit – is said to be paying its chief executive David Harris an annual salary of £300,000, nearly twice the £157,000 paid to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
We can reveal how it has advertised for staff with salaries of upwards of £70,000-a-year.
It boasted in those job adverts of how it would have an annual turnover of £700million in Scotland which would rise to £5billion if its takeover ambitions are realised.
This comes despite criticism from campaigners and small businesses that the scheme will not work and will see some independent firms shut up shop as they struggle to afford the fees.
Companies House shows preparations are already under way to run other deposit schemes with Circularity
Scotland chief executive Harris and board member Craig Anderson both registered as directors in four other firms.
Circularity DRS England Limited, Circularity DRS Solutions Limited, Circularity DRS Systems Limited and Circularity DRS UK Limited were all incorporated on May 24, 2022, with Harris and Anderson appointed directors that day.
MSPs have raised concerns about transparency after the firm refused to say how much its chief executive and other senior figures were paid.
The Sunday Mail found one job advert for a head of risk management with a salary of £70,000 and a head of accounting with a £75,000 wage.
The adverts detailed the company’s wider ambition of a Britain-wide takeover.
It states: “CSL’s stated ambition is also to become the Deposit Management Organisation for the equivalent scheme which is to be implemented in England and Wales, thereby ensuring a seamless DRS scheme right across mainland Britain and, in so doing, delivering increased efficiencies through economies of scale.
“CSL has been designed to be capable of extending its operations to deliver that scheme – moving it to a company with turnover in excess of £5billion.”
Ex-rural economy minister and SNP MSP Fergus Ewing said: “These new revelations from the Sunday Mail show that, for Harris and Anderson, Scotland is just an experiment zone for their wider aims of creating a major UK company.
“In their eyes, CSL is just a stepping stone to a UK-wide £5billion-a-year company.
“These two DRS desperados have shown scant interest in the impact on small businesses, both producers and retailers, whose very survival is threatened by their fatally-flawed scheme.”
Whisky broker and consultant Blair Bowman, who has campaigned on improving the scheme for small businesses, said: “Scotland is being used as a test for them and, if small businesses are ruined in the making of this, then so be it.”
Tory MSP Brian Whittle said: “This does beg the question as to why the Scottish Government were so insistent they get their scheme out before the rest of the UK and also highlights the need for a unified approach across the UK.”
A Circularity Scotland spokesman said: “It is common business practice to future proof potentially relevant
business names for copyright and operational purposes.
“The businesses in question are dormant companies set up for this purpose and have no impact on Circularity
Scotland’s work in preparing for the Deposit Return Scheme in Scotland.
“Salaries and remuneration of all staff are a matter for Circularity Scotland, its staff and its members.”
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