Judge gives go-ahead for waste management firm
WASTE management firm Biffa has welcomed a judge’s decision to allow it to pursue a £166million legal claim against the Scottish Government over the failed deposit return scheme (DRS).
Biffa says it wants up to £166.2million in reparations and has accused the Scottish Government of being negligent when it claimed the scheme was viable.
The waste management service has alleged that it had already committed significant funds towards the implementation of DRS in Scotland amounting to £51.4million, and also seeks reparations for the loss of profits that the scheme would have generated for the firm, said to be worth £114.8million.
Biffa has claimed that Scottish ministers owed a duty of care to the firm and that they had breached that duty after ministers announced the Scottish DRS would not be able to proceed as planned due to the Internal Markets Act. As a result, DRS is now scheduled to be delivered by the UK Government by October 2027.
The court of session judge, Lord Clark, has ruled that there should be a full hearing to examine the arguments in more detail.
The waste management firm was named as the Official Logistics Provider for DRS in 2022 by the now defunct scheme administrator Circularity Scotland.
The appointment was, at the time, reported to have created 500 jobs in Scotland across collecting, sorting and counting of waste materials.
Some 60 of these jobs were set to be created from a new recycling site in Aberdeen after Biffa announced a £7.7million investment into the transformation of a former engineering depot on the Badentoy Industrial Estate.
Speaking on the judge’s decision, a Biffa spokesperson said: “Biffa was selected by Circularity Scotland Limited as the logistics partner for the delivery of the Scottish DRS and invested significant sums to support its timely and successful implementation.
“This was done in good faith and on the expectation and understanding that the Scottish Government had the necessary mandate to enact the implementation of the scheme.
“We are pleased to have received approval from the Court of Session to proceed with legal action to seek appropriate compensation for the losses Biffa has incurred.
“As the case is ongoing, we are unable to comment any further at this time.”
The Scottish Government has declined to comment further on the ongoing litigation.
