Chamber and committees

Since 2014, Zero Waste Scotland, SEPA & local authorities
have engaged with several thousand businesses regarding
compliance with the Waste (Scotland) regulations 2012 and
wider resource efficiency measures. Where appropriate, this
engagement included advice on sharing waste collection
services. Data on the number and nature of business
collaborations is not available.

Additionally, through Resource Efficient Scotland, guidance
was provided to businesses to improve waste management
practices. This includes detailed information on the collaborative
commissioning of waste collection services. Support was
provided to Business Improvement Districts as part of this piece of work.https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/sites/default/files/
ImprovingWasteManagementGuideBusinessGroups%20RES.pdf

The Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund was opened for applications on 21 August 2020 with the closing date for applications on 18 December 2020, with funding awards being made in January 2021. As of 9 November 2020, there have been no applications submitted or approved, but please note that we would not expect there to be in receipt of a substantive number of applications at this stage with over a month left for organisations to apply.

We have received considerable interest in the fund, with over 50 enquiries from Registered Social Landlords, Local Authorities and Energy Supply Companies.

Information webinars and application support continue to be provided throughout the application window and we anticipate receiving a high number of applications for low carbon social housing projects.

Zero Waste Scotland published a qualitative report in 2015 that sought to understand both perceptions of litter and attitudes towards litter to help inform and shape key behavioural interventions. Additionally, a short survey of public attitudes and behaviours in relation to litter and flytipping was commissioned in 2016 and the annual Scottish Household Survey provides a snapshot of public attitudes to littering in local areas.

Zero Waste Scotland has provided additional guidance through communications, Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse engagement and litter prevention action plans to help support stakeholders to minimise the impact of litter escaping from bins or vehicles.

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.

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.

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/