Uncertainty surrounds the future of £7.7 million Portlethen recycling centre following the collapse of Circularity Scotland.
The facility was built to support the controversial deposit return scheme which was to be rolled out across Scotland from August.
However, with the DRS now delayed until 2025 and Circularity Scotland, the firm due to manage the controversial scheme, in administration it’s not yet clear what happens at the site in Badentoy Industrial Estate.
Up to 60 jobs were being created at the new state-of-the-art Biffa facility, from multi-skilled operatives and drivers, to administrators, supervisors and managers.
Biffa today confirmed it was “reviewing” its position but refused to give any further detail or comment.
Work underway at Biffa Portlethen recycling centre
The centre is part of a network of Biffa-run facilities across Scotland that will count, sort and bale billions of drinks containers collected through the scheme each year by the waste management company.
Work on the site started earlier in February, with equipment due to be installed in April and it was expected to be completed last month.
Diggers could be seen on-site but there was no sign of any construction work.
While hundreds of wheelie bins were stacked high in preparation for the anticipated scheme launch.
Controversial scheme
The future of Circularity Scotland had been thrown into doubt when the Scottish government announced the deposit-return scheme, which was supposed to launch in March of next year, would not be introduced until October 2025 at the earliest.
The delay came after the UK government agreed to grant an exemption to internal market rules but only if the scheme excluded glass to bring it into line with similar proposals for elsewhere in the UK that are also due to launch in 2025.
The chief executive of Circularity Scotland David Harris had said there was no reason why the Scottish scheme could not go ahead as planned next March despite glass not being included.
Circular Economy Minister Lorna Slater called the collapse of Circularity Scotland a “disaster” for its 60 workers.
A Biffa spokeswoman said: “This is a deeply disappointing outcome. We are reviewing our position and have no further comment at this time.”
