The waste management company seeks damages of around £166 million following delays to Scotland’s planned Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).
The Proof before Answer session will begin today at 10 am in front of Judge Lord Sandison.
Biffa Waste Services versus Scottish Ministers
Biffa was appointed in July 2022 as the sole logistics provider for the scheme, which would have involved the collection, transport, counting and recycling of returned containers.
The agreement was with Circularity Scotland who had been designated by Scottish Ministers as the DRS administrator.
In preparing for the scheme, Biffa claims to have invested around £51.4 million in equipment, sites, recruitment and contracts, and anticipated £114.8 million in profits over ten years.
However, repeated delays to the DRS ultimately led to Circularity Scotland entering administration in June 2023, which brought Biffa’s contract to an end.
As such, Biffa has claimed that the Scottish Government owed the company a duty of care, having assumed responsibility for steps to deliver the DRS.
The Scottish Ministers deny these allegations.
In a preliminary opinion earlier this year, presiding Judge Lord Clark recognised that there were “important points which will require further consideration” but concluded the case was not “bound to fail” and allowed it to proceed to Proof before Answer – an evidential hearing where the court considers the facts before ruling.
Letsrecycle.com reached out to both Biffa and the Scottish Government, who confirmed they are unable to comment on an active court case.
Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme
The Scottish DRS has faced a series of postponements since its original planned launch in July 2022.
The scheme was designed to add a 20p deposit to single-use drinks containers made of PET plastic, metal or glass, refundable when returned via retailers or reverse vending machines.
The go-live date was amended to August 2023, then pushed back further.
In June 2023, then minister Lorna Slater told parliament that UK government conditions on the scheme, including the exclusion of glass, left Scotland with “no option” but to delay implementation until October 2025 at the earliest.
A further delay was announced in April 2024, with the latest indicative start date now set for 1 October 2027, alongside England and Northern Ireland.
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