The private firm running Scotland’s bottle return scheme expects to rake in £57million a year from the public NOT recycling.
Circularity Scotland’s business model relies on people not bothering to return some glass and plastic for a 20p refund. The body was set up in November 2020 to operate the Scottish Government’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), which is designed to improve recycling levels.
It means customers will see price hikes of 20p extra on almost all drinks they buy in any Scottish shops or online – but they can claim the money back when they return empty containers. The scheme, which is due to begin on August 16, has been championed by Green MSP and government minister Lorna Slater. But she has faced accusations from MSPs of losing control of the policy.
The Sunday Mail has discovered Circularity Scotland could make £57million a year from unclaimed deposits which the not-for-profit company has said it is reliant upon. According to its own documents, “unredeemed deposits are factored as a revenue stream” alongside money they will charge drinks producers each year and earnings from selling recycled drinks bottles.
The firm insists this is standard practice for similar schemes around the world and said about 10 per cent of containers are not recycled. By Circularity Scotland’s own estimates, about 2.85billion items will be included in the scheme, meaning it would expect about 285million not to be handed back to shops.
This would leave £57million in unclaimed 20p deposits. Small businesses have accused the green skills, circular economy and biodiversity minister Slater of ignoring their requests to meet and some are considering closing down as they think the plans are too expensive.
Chris Payne, who runs a spirits distillery with his family in Glasgow, said: “We want this scheme to work but no one’s listening to our concerns.”
The UK Government said it is planning to bring in a similar scheme by 2025 and has encouraged the Scottish Government to participate. But Holyrood ministers are pushing ahead with the Scotland-only plan – despite firms raising concerns about costs and the details.
In the scheme, drinks producers will have to put new barcodes and labels on products being sold in Scotland and pay a fee each year. It will also mean the majority of shops that sell drinks will have to accept returned bottles and cans, store them and hand them over for uplift.
Asked how much Circularity Scotland CEO David Harris is paid, a spokeswoman refused to say and would not detail the total wage bill for the firm. She said: “Circularity Scotland is a private company formed by industry. It’s not a government body so wouldn’t publish details of staff salaries. But it has created 50 jobs since it was formed in 2021.”
Former rural economy minister Fergus Ewing challenged Slater in Holyrood last week over Harris’s salary but was told the Scottish Government “did not hold the information”.
The Inverness and Nairn MSP said: “It’s outrageous that Circularity Scotland refuse to make public basic information such as how much their CEO and many executives get paid. This is the company in charge of the disastrous DRS, which is in a mighty mess.
"It’s a major Scottish Government policy yet the minister in charge doesn’t even know how much the top brass get paid, or presumably cares? Meanwhile, small producers and retailers fear they will be forced out of business by the huge costs involved and the complexity of the scheme.”
Ewing also pointed to Harris’s role as a director in recycling firms Chase Plastics, Void Technologies and UK Polythene Holdings, and questioned if the Scottish Government investigated any potential conflicts of interest with these firms and Circularity Scotland.
He said: “It’s far from clear how much time the CEO devotes to this company as he apparently has extensive interests as director of various other private companies, mostly in plastics. Nor is it clear what disclosure has been made of those interests to Circularity Scotland and the Scottish Government. Is there not a clear conflict of interest between delivery of a DRS and having a direct interest in more than one commercial private sector plastics recycling company?”
Asked if any of Harris’s firms could buy recycled items collected by Circularity Scotland, a spokesman said: “Absolutely not. These companies do not deal with the material that will be captured under the scheme.”
He also confirmed they were still in discussions about contracts with firms to buy the recycled material. Whisky broker and consultant Blair Bowman has campaigned for greater transparency and improvements to the scheme. He said small businesses are being short-changed by the DRS in its current form.
Bowman also criticised the £57million Circularity Scotland could make from unclaimed 20p deposits and said: “They will be laughing all the way to the bank. That money is more or less guaranteed as it’s a legal obligation to comply with this scheme and Circularity Scotland are the only designated scheme administrator.
“If this wasn’t a private company, that £57million could have gone back into Scottish Government coffers. There is no guarantee it will be passed back to producers as there is no scrutiny of the company’s finances.”
A Circularity Scotland spokesman said: “All revenue is reinvested into the running costs of the company to ensure producer fees are kept as low as possible.”
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