Chamber and committees

Scotland has made significant progress in reducing waste, increasing recycling and decarbonising the waste sector, but there is further work to be done. The Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 and Circular Economy & Waste Route Map set out Scottish Government plans to introduce a statutory Code of Practice for household waste services to accelerate improvements to both the quality and quantity of recycling.

Household soft plastics are not routinely recycled by Scottish Local Authorities. Data is not collected specifically on soft plastics, but Zero Waste Scotland extrapolate from SEPA annual estimates of the amount of plastic waste generated in Scotland and managed in / out with Scotland in the Waste From All Sources report: Waste (from all sources). It is not possible to break this analysis down into sub-types of plastic waste.

The Scottish Government’s Circular Economy & Waste Route Map and 2020 Climate Change Plan update included our commitment to consult on the separate collection of textile waste from households. A consultation was launched on 25 March 2025: Changes to waste management services - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space

The consultation will provide evidence and views on how we can prevent textiles becoming waste through more recycling and reuse, including through kerbside collection or measures at Household Waste Recycling Centres. The findings will inform the co-design of the new household recycling Code of Practice and be subject to further policy development with local government and other waste sector stakeholders.

Zero Waste Scotland began research on product stewardship considerations for textiles in Scotland in 2023. The final report will be published in 2025 and will provide a detailed view of textiles material flow across the Scottish value chain, stakeholder insights to required policy interventions and analysis of potential measures that take account of practicality, feasibility and impact.

WRAP is taking action to transform the way that textiles and clothing are bought, used and re-used. They are working with leaders in the UK and globally to develop, share and scale new processes.

Over the past five years, there have been four fires at a battery recycling centre, six at electronic recycling centres, and thirty nine at conventional recycling centres for a total of forty three fires overall.

The following table breaks down these incidents by centre type and year:

Yes, the Scottish Government is aware of recycling facilities that manage soft plastics in Scotland.

The following table provides the full list of projects funded through the Recycling Improvement Fund with a breakdown of the projected tonnage and funding allocated to each project, for which tonnage increase is a direct impact. N/A indicates projects where recycling tonnage impacts are indirect to the project e.g. in-cab technology for drivers.

Zero Waste Scotland is currently conducting research on soft plastic recycling to understand collection and processing opportunities. The outputs of this research are expected to be available in the summer of 2025.

SEPA is presently awaiting the incident report following the fire at the Blairlinn industrial estate in Cumbernauld.

Therefore, at this time, it would not be appropriate to commit to a review of fire safety procedures at waste management facilities.

The Scottish Government thanks the Marine Conservation Society and all the many volunteers for their excellent work in monitoring beach litter and cleaning our shores. Citizen science is valued, and in combination with data from our scientists and our wider international monitoring programme, it is useful in helping us prioritise policy development to effectively reduce marine litter.

The Review of the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers)(Scotland) Act 2020 was published on 4 April. In that review we committed to consult on prohibiting the use of remote control static pulse training collars. We are currently working to regulate the activities of the canine facility sector. We are also developing a Code of Practice that will ensure the transparent and safe transfer of ownership of any puppy and dog, as required under the Welfare of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2025.