Biffa Waste Companies Ltd has launched a authorized case to reclaim roughly £200 million from Scottish ministers, citing vital losses from investing within the authorities’s aborted bottle recycling scheme.
The corporate’s authorized crew has filed a case on the Court docket of Session, Scotland’s highest civil court docket, looking for to recuperate a £150 million loss incurred because of the collapse of the SNP and Greens’ flagship deposit return scheme, together with subsequent misplaced income. Biffa can be represented by Roddy Dunlop KC, dean of the school of advocates.
Biffa contends that the Scottish authorities misrepresented the viability of the scheme, offering private assurances from Inexperienced Get together co-leader Lorna Slater, which led to Biffa investing £55 million in autos and gear in preparation for the scheme. Slater, who was the minister for inexperienced abilities, round economic system, and biodiversity from 2021 till this yr, later scrapped the scheme in June final yr.
The scheme’s cancellation adopted the UK authorities’s refusal to grant full exclusion from the Inside Market Act, which prevented Scotland from together with glass in its operations. Biffa reportedly invested over £65 million in preparation for the scheme.
A supply revealed to the Sunday Mail newspaper that Biffa agreed to the contract primarily based on “written assurances from Lorna Slater concerning the scheme’s deliverability and the Scottish authorities’s dedication to it.” The supply added that Biffa believes the Scottish authorities “negligently misrepresented the reassurance it gave” and failed to say the necessity for UK Inside Market Act approval.
A spokesman for Biffa acknowledged: “Biffa was chosen by Circularity Scotland Restricted because the logistics accomplice for the supply of the Scottish deposit return scheme and invested vital sums to assist its well timed and profitable implementation. This was executed in good religion and on the expectation and understanding that the supply of the scheme had been mandated by the Scottish authorities.
“Having rigorously reviewed our place with our advisers, we are able to verify that we’re taking authorized motion to hunt applicable compensation for the losses Biffa has incurred.”
A Scottish authorities spokesman responded: “The Scottish authorities can’t touch upon ongoing litigation.”
The deposit return scheme aimed to spice up recycling by imposing a 20p deposit on each drinks container, refundable upon return of the container. Biffa was appointed to gather all recycled containers throughout Scotland underneath a ten-year contract, anticipating income exceeding £100 million.
