Chamber and committees

The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 came into force in June 2022 as part of the Scottish Government’s commitment to move to a more circular economy and tackle the environmental impact of the most problematic single-use plastic products.

Over seven hundred million of these products were estimated to be used in Scotland every year before the Regulations came into force, including three hundred million single-use plastic straws and over two hundred and fifty million pieces of single-use plastic cutlery.

Now that the regulations have been in place for almost a year, we will evaluate progress and this will inform our approach to continuing to support businesses to comply with requirements.

The evidence gathered through the call for evidence will help inform future policy on how to reduce the use of single-use food containers and other single-use items in order to align, where we are able to do so and in a manner that contributes towards maintaining and advancing standards, with the EU Directive on single-use plastics and to tackle Scotland’s throwaway culture.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18098 on 5 June 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Zero Waste Scotland is progressing two life cycle analysis reports of the impact of secondary steel production as an update to the published carbon assessment. The other three reports referred to in the answer to question S6W-08343 have been amalgamated into one report. These reports are all expected to be published in 2023-24.

Circularity Scotland is a private not for profit company. Decisions regarding advanced payments is a matter for them and it would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to comment in such commercial arrangements between private companies.

One of the many factors the Scottish Government took into account when considering the timing of launch of the Deposit Return Scheme was feedback from stakeholders. We are grateful to all businesses for the investment they have made in preparing for the launch of the deposit return scheme and this investment will be important for the success of the scheme when it launches.

The purpose of the Scottish Government’s call for evidence was to gather evidence to inform policy development on how to reduce consumption of single-use food containers and other single use items. All responses to the call for evidence have been published, where consent was given to do so, here: https://consult.gov.scot/environment-forestry/single-use-items/consultation/published_select_respondent . The Scottish Government will publish an analysis of the call for evidence this year.

Curriculum for Excellence is a flexible curriculum with defined experiences and outcomes that allow for teaching and learning of a very wide range of topics. This ensures that schools are able to deliver a curriculum that is best suited to their learners in their circumstances and local context.

Learning for Sustainability, which is an entitlement for all learners, provides the general curricular theme on sustainable development education, social justice, climate change, global citizenship, children’s rights, equality and outdoor learning.

There are experiences and outcomes across the curriculum that cover learning on material extraction and end product use such us: Sciences SCN 4-04b: “Through investigation I can explain the formation and use of fossil fuels and contribute to discussions on the responsible use and conservation of finite resources”; Social Studies SOC 4-08a: “I can discuss the sustainability of key natural resources and analyse the possible implications for human activity”; and Technology TCH 2-06a “I can analyse how lifestyles can impact on the environment and Earth’s resources and can make suggestions about how to live in a more sustainable way”.

Scotland’s Heat Network Fund (SHNF) provides funding for primary and secondary heat network infrastructure. This includes projects that utilise waste heat from existing incineration plants to provide low carbon, affordable heat to local consumers. Under the scheme, £5.6 million was committed in August 2022 to the extension of the Torry Heat Network which uses waste heat from an energy from waste plant. The Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme (LCITP) awarded £5.78m for Phase 1 in November 2020.

LCITP awarded £7.3m in January 2020 to Midlothian Council to build a heat network using waste heat from the Millerhill incineration plant.

SHNF is focused on the construction of heat networks and doesn’t cover the installation of electricity generation equipment.

Critical minerals are becoming increasingly important for emerging technologies. However, the Scottish Government is not aware of any existing research on public support for critical minerals for communication to stakeholders.

I would encourage all business sectors in Scotland that rely on critical minerals to ensure that supply chains are resilient to current and future impacts of climate change, and that critical minerals are obtained from sustainable sources.

Where new development proposals come forward, our Fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) supports the sustainable management of resources, whilst minimising the impacts of the extraction of minerals on communities and the environment.

In 2021, Scottish Government published the Strategy for Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Research, which has formed the basis for the Strategic Research Programme 2022-2027 and includes consideration of biogenic carbon. Scottish Government has not undertaken specific consideration of how to include biogenic carbon in future research publications and has no plans to publish on the matter, given its consideration within the Strategic Research Programme.