Waste management firm Biffa has the contract to collect empty drinks containers and has bought a fleet of 198 diesel and petrol vehicles to fulfil the work.
The Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) has been championed by the Scottish Government and headed up by Greens minister Lorna Slater but she has been accused of losing control of the policy.
Critics claim the extra vehicles will outdo the environmental benefits the scheme promises to bring.
Ex-Scottish Government rural affairs minister Fergus Ewing said the scheme was going to see small firms go under and has urged ministers to pause it until issues can be resolved.
He said: “Many small Scottish companies that currently collect glass, tins and plastics locally and recycle them well are having their business in effect confiscated by Circularity Scotland’s decision to award all this work throughout Scotland to one multinational company.
“Biffa plans to put 200 extra lorries on our roads. It will create extra emissions from millions of additional lorry journeys and will be bad for the environment.
“This DRS will damage the environment and decimate hundreds of small businesses.
“It will make a rich multinational richer and poor people poorer through the price hikes DRS will cause for beverages.
“It will reduce glass recycling and boost use of plastic in place of glass to avoid the higher fees for glass.
“It must be paused and reviewed to work out how to improve recycling without damaging the environment or decimating small businesses.”
The Resource Management Association Scotland said that allowing US-owned Biffa to run the contract for all of Scotland’s DRS would see job losses.
Scottish Conservative MSP Maurice Golden said: “This flies in the face of Lorna Slater continuing to trumpet the green credentials of her flawed DRS scheme.”
Scottish Labour’s Colin Smyth said: “The Greens’ increasingly cosy relationship with big business exposes their utter hypocrisy since they got into Government.”
The DRS is designed to reduce the amount of litter and boost recycling rates by charging a 20p deposit on all glass and plastic drinks containers.
Customers will get the 20p back when they return the empties to the shop. But some small businesses have said they will have to close down as they cannot afford the new labels and barcodes needed for products. Others said they’ll struggle to store large volumes of empties.
Biffa said: “We’ve ordered 198 DRS vehicles. The fleet will run on conventional fuels, although we are looking to introduce electric or HVO vehicles.
“We’re talking to several SME waste providers and logistic companies to use their own existing vehicles and infrastructure to help us deliver the collections contract.”
Circularity Scotland said: “We are working with recycling, waste and logistics providers to identify opportunities to work in partnership and utilise existing collection arrangements.
“We are in regular contact with waste management teams from all local authorities about synergies with their recycling networks.”
The Scottish Government said it was the responsibility of Circularity Scotland to decide on contracts.
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