Circularity Scotland and Deposit Return Scheme: EIR release

Information requested

You asked for: -

• Has the Scottish Government made any loans to Circularity Scotland? If so, how much, and when is the loan due to be repaid (both start date of repayment and due date of full repayment of loan)?
• Do any members of the Scottish Government or the board of directors of the DRS have any business interests in any of the waste management businesses that will be involved in the Deposit Recovery Scheme (Biffa, Veolia Waste Management)? If so, was this information made public prior to Biffa/Veola winning contracts to run the DRS?

Response

The answer to your questions are: -

No public funding has been provided to either Circularity Scotland Ltd in respect of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme (DRS).

No member of the Scottish Government has any business interests in any of the waste management businesses that will be involved in the Deposit Return Scheme.

Circularity Scotland Ltd (Board) are not part of the public sector, and are not under contract to the Scottish Government so the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2022 (FOISA) does not extend to them and I am unable to provide the information you requested.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.