Meeting of the Parliament 18 June 2025
Although we will support the SSI, we have serious concerns about what has been put in front of us and the lack of detail that we are being asked to approve. I raised those concerns at committee, and I will go through some of them again today.
There is no detail on the level of deposit or who can alter it; on the different deposit rates for different sized containers; or on the level of producer registration fees. There is a lack of detail on closed-loop premises and no mention of the costs for or impact on the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, or of the rural exemptions and coverage.
Today, we are being asked to approve a deposit return scheme that excludes glass. I do not have a problem with that, but I have a problem with the amount of taxpayer money that has been wasted to get us to this point. We could have launched a deposit return scheme that did not include glass two years ago, because an exemption from the United Kingdom Internal Market Act 2020 was granted. If we had done that, the system administrator would not have collapsed with debts of £86 million, a big chunk of which was made up of Scottish taxpayers’ cash that had been lent through the Scottish National Investment Bank. All of that has been lost. We would not be in a position in which Biffa is taking legal action against the Scottish Government for £166 million. If it is successful, that will mean that less money will be available for our national health service, for policing and for our schools.