Circularity Scotland, the firm which was due to manage the deposit return scheme, has gone into administration.
It emerged last week that Circularity Scotland was on the brink of collapse, with staff sent home and the board unable to say whether they would be paid this month.
In addition, drinks manufacturers and retailers said they did not have the confidence to continue funding the firm due to the “political uncertainty”.
Circular Economy Minister Lorna Slater told MSPs the collapse of Circularity Scotland was a “disaster” for its 60 workers and blamed the firm’s demise on conditions imposed by the UK government.
She told the Scottish Parliament: “We have learned today that a process is under way is to appoint administrators to CSL [Circularity Scotland Ltd] leaving their staff in an extremely difficult position.
“This is an unforgiveable consequence of the UK government’s 11th hour intervention which undermined our deposit return scheme, made progress impossible, and is now resulting in these jobs being lost.”
Reports had suggested that Circularity Scotland’s workers have not been paid a full month’s wages.
However, Slater told the chamber it was her understanding that staff had been paid for the work they have done.
She added that staff had also been offered support from Partnership Action for Continuing Employment – the government’s redundancy support service.
Slater said: “Scotland’s deposit return scheme would have created up to 500 new green jobs, including as the member highlights in Aberdeen and Motherwell. We are in the very regrettable position that these new jobs are now at risk with our DRS being unable to launch.
“The UK Government clearly is not interested in investment in Scotland, in jobs in Scotland, nor respecting businesses in Scotland.”
