Circularity Scotland has appointed administrators putting 60 jobs at risk, as Circular Economy Minister Lorna Slater survives vote of no confidence.
Scottish Greens co-leader and Circular Economy Minister Lorna Slater said this left Circularity Scotland Ltd.’s (CSL) staff in an “extremely difficult” position and told MSPs that the Scottish government are continuing to liaise with CSL about how it can support staff.
Speaking in Scottish Parliament, Slater told MSPs: “This is an unforgivable consequence of the UK government’s 11th-hour invention which undermined our deposit return scheme (DRS), made progress impossible and is now resulting in these jobs being lost. This is clearly a concerning time for staff at CSL and we have been in regular contact with CSL since the UK government’s decision.”
This is an unforgivable consequence of the UK government’s 11th-hour invention which undermined our DRS.
On 7 June, the launch of Scotland’s DRS was delayed until at least October 2025 after the UK government declined a request for full exclusion from the Internal Market Act, which meant the scheme must exclude glass.
Blair Nimmo and Alistair McAlinden from Interpath Advisory were appointed joint administrators of the process.
Interpath Advisory said that following Scotland’s DRS being delayed until October 2025 CSL wouldn’t be able to meet various “significant contractual obligations” without additional funding. The administrators said the focus is now on securing and realising CSL’s available assets for the benefit of its creditors.
On Monday (19 June), The British Beer & Pub Association, British Soft Drinks Association and Scottish Retail Consortium said they no longer have the confidence required to continue funding CSL. A joint statement said a “high degree of political uncertainty” disrupted the scheme and put the future of CSL at risk.
The directors were left with few options other than to seek the appointment of administrators.
CSL has previously insisted the groundwork was in place for the scheme to go live as originally planned on 1 March 2024 without glass.
Blair Nimmo, chief executive of Interpath Advisory and joint administrator, commented: “The ongoing uncertainty surrounding the future launch of the DRS prompted the company’s backers to withdraw future funding, and as such, the directors were left with few options other than to seek the appointment of administrators.”
Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf has previously ruled out paying compensation to businesses that invested in Scotland’s DRS on the basis it would go live before other UK nations and include glass.
The chair of the state-owned Scottish National Investment Bank, Willie Watt, has said he expects to lose over half of a £9 million loan given to Circularity Scotland and warned MSPs it was possible the entire amount could be lost.
Slater survives vote of no confidence
On Monday (20 June), Slater survived a vote of no confidence by 68 votes to 55. Despite broad support from the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Scottish Green Party, backbench SNP MSP Fergus Ewing voted for the motion of no confidence after it was tabled by Scottish Conservative MSP Liam Kerr, Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero.
All Scottish Labour, Scottish Liberal Democrat and Scottish Conservative MSPs voted for the motion of no confidence.
