Chamber and committees

Since the launch of the SME Loan Scheme in its current form in 2013, 594 loans have been paid to aid businesses to implement energy efficiency measures.

SME Energy Efficiency loan paid number and value by FY budgets as at 30 th September 2020

The measures identified and committed to under the four action areas of the Food Waste Reduction Action Plan represent the outcome of the stakeholder workshops delivered by Zero Waste Scotland. The environmental and economic benefits of food waste prevention remain as important as ever as we deal with, and recover from, COVID-19 and a full review of progress against the commitments in the Food Waste Reduction Action Plan will be published in 2021.

The Scottish Government has regular dialogue with organisations across all levels of football to discuss a wide range of issues, including community and amateur football.

Making Things Last: A Circular Economy Strategy for Scotland set out that the reuse economy in Scotland has a yearly turnover of at least £244 million, supports over 6,000 jobs, reuses 89,000 tonnes of material annually, and provides opportunities for individuals to obtain high quality products at considerably lower cost than new. This data came from a baseline report ( https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/research-evidence/scottish-reuse-mapping-sector-analysis-report ) which was used to inform support for reuse.

Progress against this baseline is measured in a number of ways. Zero Waste Scotland are working with Social Investment Scotland to map out key reuse and repair activities led by the community sector within each local authority area.

Progress in growing the reuse economy is evident through a range of other indicators, including the expansion of the Revolve network which now has over 135 certified stores across Scotland. There has also been a recent 12 percent increase in consumer awareness in shopping second hand. Annual data is gathered on the Revolve network to show the impact of the sector on jobs and turnover and to track trends. Internal analysis from Zero Waste Scotland indicates that, on a per store basis, sales income and the number of items reused across the network has almost doubled between 2017-18 and 2018-19 and the tonnage of material reused has increased significantly.

In addition, Community Resource Network Scotland issue an annual impact report for the community sector ( https://www.crns.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Local-Solutions-to-Global-Climate-Emergency-Nov-2019.pdf ) .

This information is not held centrally. The Scottish Institute for Remanufacture (SIR) has enabled 23 companies to deploy new manufacturing technologies and processes into their businesses in Scotland. The SIR and the University of Strathclyde have also worked with standard setting bodies to develop remanufacturing standards, influenced the creation of the European Remanufacturing Council, and had involvement with product specific steering committees.

Further to the answer S5W-31925, the Scottish Government, through Zero Waste Scotland, has established three re-use hubs. The purpose of these hubs is to capture material that would otherwise have been disposed of thereby contributing to the aim in Making Things Last: A Circular Economy Strategy for Scotland “to encourage increased capture rates, to deliver economies of scale for the sector and to create recognised reuse superstores for consumers”.

Support remains available for further larger-scale facilities via the Circular Economy Investment Fund.

Food waste reduction is now a standing agenda item for the NHS Waste Management Steering Group and the Catering Services Experts Group. Both groups are working with Zero Waste Scotland to develop a food waste reduction strategy for NHS Scotland and a national action plan. The outputs from previously held workshops are being used, along with findings from pilot studies in key regional boards, to develop the national action plan and subsequent regional board plans. The plan will apply to all facilities within each board with focus on acute settings in the first instance, where food waste is most prevalent.

Table 1 shows Scottish Government advertising spend for campaigns that have promoted food waste reduction since 2013-14. This includes spend on Scottish Government’s national campaign, ‘Food Waste Gone Bad’ which aims to promote food waste recycling. The Scottish Government 2018-19 ‘Food Waste Gone Bad’ campaign has most recently been evaluated. This campaign generated awareness of 47% and most notably, 76% of people who saw the campaign took action as a result, with a corresponding increase of 4 percentage points in the proportion of the target audience recycling food waste at ‘every opportunity’.

In terms of measurement, we refer to response S5W-32336, on 10 November 2020, S5W-32200 on 30 October 2020, and S5W-32198 on 30 October 2020, which highlight that annual data is not currently collected or held centrally for the categories identified in this question; however, actions to develop monitoring and reporting infrastructure, together with improvement in measurement methodologies, will support an enhanced capacity for food waste and surplus measurement and reporting going forward.A full review of the Food Waste Reduction Action Plan progress is scheduled for 2021.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

As outlined under the response to S5W-32198 on 30 October 2020, we currently do not hold food waste data at a sector-specific level, and it is therefore not possible to determine accurate national estimates of food waste specifically for schools or hospitals at this time. The developing actions and infrastructure described in the response to question S5W-32200 on 30 October 2020, together with improvement in measurement methodologies, will support an enhanced capacity for food waste measurement and reporting going forward.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx