Chamber and committees

In light of the publication of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Scotland's Strategic Framework on 23 October 2020, the Coronavirus (COVID-19): organised activities for children guidance for organised activities and services for children, including babies and toddlers, was updated on 12 November 2020. The guidance is not an instruction for all services and activities to open up at this time, since this will be based on the requirements that need to be met, relevant to each individual delivery setting. Private providers should read this guidance in conjunction with guidance for small businesses: Coronavirus (COVID-19): small and micro businesses guidance .

While our capacity to measure and monitor on a granular and sector specific level develops, we have identified some alternative interim measurement methodologies. For household data, we have utilised waste compositional data from 5 local authorities in Scotland from a wider UK waste compositional study conducted by WRAP. This has been analysed alongside information from Waste Data Flow, the national database that holds data on waste collected by local authorities.

For specific sectors, we have scaled to geographical areas based on economic and demographic metrics from UK level data. For example, we were able, due to the high level of participation in the Courtauld commitment, to calculate the ratio of local units in Scotland to the total local units in the UK in 2018 and this was applied to the total UK retail and wholesale food waste from 2018 to derive the Scottish component.

Prevention, reuse and recycling are always preferable waste management options, over energy recovery or disposal of waste.

We have ambitious targets to improve the way we manage materials by reducing waste, increasing recycling and keeping materials at a higher value for longer but still need capacity to dispose of residual waste while we make the transition to a circular economy in Scotland.

This year’s Programme for Government sets out an ambitious set of measures to help make it easier for households and businesses to support this goal, including the establishment of a £70 million fund to improve local authority recycling collection infrastructure. The Parliament has also now passed legislation to implement a deposit return scheme for Scotland which will help to boost recycling, and we are working with the other governments of the UK on reform of the packaging producer responsibility system to reduce waste and improve recycling.

Energy from waste (EfW) operators submit quarterly data returns on the types and quantities of waste they accept. These are included in the Official Statistics on Waste Incineration, available at https://www.sepa.org.uk/environment/waste/waste-data/waste-data-reporting/

These returns include items that are unsuitable for processing and picked out of the waste before processing or ash after processing. The next destination of waste leaving the site is a voluntary field in the quarterly return form.

EfW operators must report the types of waste they accept by EWC Code. There is no requirement to report a more detailed compositional analysis of the residual waste they accept. There are no plans to include such a requirement in the regulations.

A recent report by Zero Waste Scotland suggests that the greenhouse gas emissions from the incineration of residual waste at Scottish energy from waste plants are on average lower than landfilling the same waste. That being said, in terms of environmental impact prevention, reuse and recycling are always preferable over energy recovery or disposal of waste as waste management options.

The most recent statistics shows that carbon emissions associated with Scotland’s household waste in 2019 dropped once again on the previous year to reach the lowest level since official recording began. These statistics are available here: https://www.sepa.org.uk/environment/waste/waste-data/waste-data-reporting/

Energy from waste facilities (EfW) are already required to report energy generation to SEPA on an annual basis. Permits issued by SEPA to EfW plants require each facility to produce a Heat and Power Plan and report annual progress to SEPA each year. This report includes information on energy generation in the previous year and progress towards meeting heat use targets.

Two thirds of local authorities improved their recycling rate between 2018 and 2019. We are aware that some local authorities face specific challenges in improving their recycling rates.

Alongside Zero Waste Scotland, we will continue to work with local authorities to support further progress. As part of this approach, our Programme for Government 2020-21 announced a £70 million recycling fund, to support local authorities in improving recycling collection infrastructure; and the development of a route map to achieving our ambitious 2025 recycling targets.

The Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse (Scotland) was revised and published in 2018. Through Zero Waste Scotland, over 60 engagement sessions were held with local authorities and other duty holders, and these included material on the importance of monitoring and evaluation.

Zero Waste Scotland has developed a new litter monitoring methodology and software solution that aligns with the revised Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse (Scotland) 2018. This will provide granular information on litter categories as well as including flytipping reporting functionality previously used in FlyMapper. This is undergoing final testing and will be implemented soon for duty holders and other land managers. Functionality will include spatial data to help inform the development of targeted interventions.

We have also supported the Upstream Battle Campaign led by Keep Scotland Beautiful which is developingf a citizen-based monitoring approach.

Zero Waste Scotland has published advice on incentives to reduce littering through choice architecture and design in the report ‘More Carrot Less Stick’ .

In 2013, Zero Waste Scotland funded a number of ‘recycle and reward’ pilot projects to test the increase in recycling of single use drinks containers through offering incentives .

This question was looked at extensively in July 2013 in the Zero Waste Scotland report Scotland’s Litter Problem . This looked at both direct and indirect costs, and whether these are currently internalised or externalised. Elements of this work were revisited in 2017 as part of evidence assessment discussions around the introduction of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme.