bottle crash could cost firms £300m
But Slater blames Westminster for costly U-turn
LORNA Slater has insisted she can still be trusted to deliver for Scots despite overseeing the SNP-Green government’s bungled Deposit Return Scheme.
The Circular Economy Minister admitted the disaster had cost taxpayers nearly £10million – while for firms that invested to prepare for the policy the bill could be as high as £300million.
It comes after revelations that waste company Biffa is considering suing Scottish ministers for £200million in damages.
Slater refused to be drawn on if she would resign should a lawsuit be successful.
And the Greens MSP put the blame squarely on Tory ministers for effectively killing the controversial Scotland-only initiative last August.
Speaking before the Scottish Greens conference today, party co-leader Slater said the country would have had a “working DRS” paying Scots 20p for bottles and cans by now if not for Westminster.
On a visit to the Water of Leith Visitor Centre in Edinburgh with colleague Patrick Harvie, Slater said: “I think all the businesses in Scotland who had invested in this scheme must be feeling frustration.
“We estimated that, across Scotland, about £300million had been invested in this scheme.
“Up until January last year, the UK Government was still putting it in writing that they expected the Scottish schemes and Welsh schemes to be able to be slightly different because this is a fully devolved matter.
“When the UK ministers decided to pull out the Internal Market Act very late in the day and use it, we were weeks away from a working scheme.
“That’s heartbreaking for myself and anyone who cares about litter and waste.
“We’re here sitting beside the beautiful Water of Leith, which we know they pull plastic bottles
Businesses who invested in this scheme must feel frustrated lorna slater on failed scottish initiative
and cans and glass out of all the time.”
Asked if she would resign if the Scottish Government is forced to pay DRS compensation to firms in the courts, she replied: “That is very, very hypothetical.”
Scotland will now align with a UK-wide DRS project that doesn’t include glass bottles – and has been delayed by the Tories from 2025 to 2027, which Slater said was “frustrating”.
Despite the public cash lost in the DRS fiasco, the Greens minister said she could still be trusted to deliver for Scots and defended her party’s record.
Slater said: “We will always be working towards meeting our manifesto commitments, towards delivering what we’ve said we would, and I think we have demonstrated that very strongly.”
She cited the Recycling Improvement Fund, cash to boost nature projects and free bus travel for under-22s as signature Green achievements.
She vowed to put “climate action” at the top of the agenda when the Greens stage their spring conference at Edinburgh Napier University.
However, Slater gave the strongest hint yet Scottish ministers will formally ditch their legally-binding target to slash emissions by 75 per cent by 2030 – after experts at the Climate Change Committee (CCC) warned last month it is virtually “impossible” to hit.
The Lothian MSP said: “What we need to do is hit that 2045 Net Zero target, which the CCC has said is still credible.”