Chamber and committees

Scotland is one of the few countries to publish annual reports setting out consumption-based emissions, including those associated with imported textiles, in the “Scotland’s Carbon Footprint” official statistics release [available at: www.gov.scot/publications/scotlands-carbon-footprint-1998-2018/ ]. We recognise the inherently global nature of climate change and the necessity of co-ordinated international action and our transition to a circular economy.

Embodied emissions in imported textiles peaked in 2007 at an estimated 2.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO 2 e). In the latest year (2018) these emissions were estimated to have fallen to a level of 1.0 MtCO 2 e. Textile production in the Middle-East and China were the largest contributors.

In June 2022 we launched our £2m Circular Textiles Fund, to support businesses working in this sector to address issues associated with textile waste and throwaway culture.

Scottish Water operates 1,857 wastewater treatment works (WWTW) across Scotland; this figure includes septic tanks.

Scottish Water works closely with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to develop the Chemical Investigation Programmes (CIP). Phase 1 of the CIP2 Scotland project involved sampling at 20 low dilution WWTWs monthly over a period of 2 years. Phase 2 of the CIP2 Scotland project involved sampling at a further 24 WWTWs monthly over a 6 month period for substances identified of further concern. 4 septic tanks were sampled as part of CIP2 Scotland. CIP3 Scotland is sampling at 5 WWTWs for substances of emerging concern monthly over a year starting in June 2022. CIP3 Scotland will be sampling at 5 coastal WWTWs monthly for 6 months.

WWTWs were chosen due to their low dilution as these WWTWs pose the greatest risk of not achieving the Environmental Quality Standard where the substance is controlled by existing legislation or the Predicted Non Effect Concentration (PNEC) where there are no controls in legislation. Dilution varies according to the population served by a WWTW and the volume of water in the receiving watercourse.

The following table gives a breakdown of the WWTWs sampled in each Local Authority Area in Scotland.

Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) is an independent not-for-profit company, which is able to locate, apply for and accept funding from a range of sources. As an evidence-led organisation, any expertise and/or advice ZWS provide to Scottish Government would be based on balanced outputs from research by sector specific policy experts.

ZWS is a key delivery partner for the Scottish Government in relation to circular economy policy and it would be for Scottish Government to decide on whether to use the organisations advice in development of policies.

Scottish textiles businesses can access a wide range of support through our enterprise agencies, including grants (e.g. Business Innovation and Growth Grants), other funding, advice, help and events.

The Find Business Support webpage, available at https://findbusinesssupport.gov.scot/ , directs businesses to Scotland's public sector support in a single location.

In addition, the £2m Circular Textiles Fund (CTF), administered by Zero Waste Scotland and backed by the Scottish Government was launched on 24 June 2022. This support is designed to help reduce the environmental impact of textiles and throwaway culture, and to support the development of circular supply chains in Scotland. The CTF provides opportunities for public, private and third-sector organisations of all sizes to develop and deliver solutions to reduce the waste and carbon impacts of all textiles.

The Scottish Government does not hold any statistical data regarding the proportion of wool produced in Scotland used in Scottish and other UK textile manufacturing.

Zero Waste Scotland strategy is to maximise the impact of investment in the circular economy and to partner across private and public sectors. This aims to leverage funding opportunities, and to increase co-investment and partnership models to support and to continue to deliver value across circular economy initiatives.

ZWS is also undertaking multi-party engagement with Scottish Government and Scottish Business Climate Collaboration (SBCC) which is 50:50 funded by public funds and SBCC and is working with several businesses to develop business cases for circular initiatives that will then be funded and delivered by companies themselves. In addition co-investment models have been developed with Social Investment Scotland to create a Net Zero Transition Fund for third sector organisations.

The Scottish Government is fully supportive of efforts to remove, reduce or recycle plastics used in the woodland and forest environment. Forestry and Land Scotland is moving away from plastic tree shelters and using more biodegradable ones. More work is needed, however, on biodegradable and compostable alternatives before a ban on plastic tree guards is possible. Scottish Forestry is supporting research to test alternatives with partners in the public and private sectors across UK and Ireland.

As stated in the Business Regulatory Impact Assessment published on 22 December 2022, we expect that there will be around seventeen thousand return points operating in Scotland. We do not have a breakdown by local authority.

Circularity Scotland (CSL) is a private not for profit business, therefore the Scottish Government was not involved in the negotiations between CSL and the vendors for any of its contracts.

I can also confirm that Circularity Scotland have finalised and signed a contract with Reverse Logistics Group to become its IT services provider.