Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of employees in waste collection and management in each local authority area.

Due to the nature of the projects RIF has supported and the timescales for waste data reporting there is a lag between projects being completed and impact data being available.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of developing a circular economy for electric vehicle batteries and supported Zero Waste Scotland in commissioning research which indicated that by 2030 there could be up to 16,000 tonnes of vehicle batteries in Scotland potentially available for reuse, remanufacturing or recycling.

However, current UK and European Union legislation dictates that the battery manufacturer remains responsible for the collection, recycling and disposal of the battery.

Scottish Enterprise are currently progressing enquiries from businesses in the electric vehicle and battery preprocessing sector which may be suitable to invest and locate in Scotland. Scottish Enterprise are work closely with each company in order to maximise Scotland’s ability to take advantage of emerging market opportunities in this sector.

The 5-year Recycling Improvement Fund will conclude at the end of 2025-26, at which point the Scottish Government will review the overall Project.

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.

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.

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.