Chamber and committees

Over and above the local government finance settlement, between 2015 – 2019 the Scottish Government provided around £8 million through Zero Waste Scotland to support local authorities in aligning their services with the Household Recycling Charter Code of Practice.

In March, we launched a £70 million recycling improvement fund to support improvements in local authority recycling infrastructure. One of the objectives of the fund is to Support Local Authorities with aligning their services to the Code of Practice which accompanies the Household Recycling Charter.

The Electronic Duty of Care (edoc) system has been operational since January 2014 and was the result of a 4 year, multi-agency project. These project costs are not held centrally. The project was funded through the EU’s LIFE+ environment programme and led by the Environment Agency.

We are taking forward the commitment to move towards the use of a mandatory system for waste monitoring as part of our work to implement an electronic waste tracking system, set out in our update to the Climate Change Plan.

A joint consultation on the implementation of a mandatory electronic waste tracking system is planned for autumn on behalf of all four nations of the UK. This consultation will seek views on how and when mandatory electronic waste tracking should be implemented, including the types of waste that should be included. Accurate costs and staffing hours for this multi-agency project are not held centrally.

The Scottish Government is currently working with Zero Waste Scotland, COSLA and an Advisory Group, comprising local authority Waste Managers, to review the Code of Practice that accompanies the Household Recycling Charter. One of the aims of the review is to ensure that local authorities will still be able to fulfil the aims of the Charter when Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme is introduced.

No specific risk assessment has been carried out for the impact of the Household Recycling Charter on recycling rates.

The Scottish Government has committed to evaluate the Household Recycling Charter. This work has been delayed temporarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we are working with COSLA and local authorities to take forward this evaluation.

Of the 32 local authorities across Scotland, 31 have signed up to the voluntary Household Recycling Charter, Edinburgh City Council has not yet signed up. So far, 9 councils have fully aligned their services with the Code of Practice, these are: Dumfries & Galloway, Dundee City, East Ayrshire, Falkirk, Fife, Moray, Shetland Islands, South Ayrshire, and Stirling.

No risk assessment has been carried out regarding the potential impact on recycling rates of charging for garden waste collection.

There is no statutory requirement for local authorities to separately collect garden waste and charging for its collection is not a new option available to councils. Garden waste is included in Schedule 2 of the Controlled Waste Regulations 1992 which contains the types of waste for which a charge for collection may be made. It is up to individual councils whether to charge or not.

As set out in our update to the Climate Change Plan, we will consult on requirements to separately collect garden waste by 2023, to further promote reuse and recycling.

Scottish Government does not hold information on the cost of tackling litter in each local authority. Local Authorities are responsible for clearing litter on public land. They will be providing information on the costs of tackling litter as part of the forthcoming research on the scale and cost of litter and flytipping in Scotland.

The total visits, from 2014-15 to now, are split across the Recycle for Scotland (RfS) site, when it was standalone, and the new How to Waste Less (HTWL) site, which the RfS site was incorporated into in April 2020.

The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) is a relative measure of deprivation which ranks 6,976 small areas (called data zones). Rank 1 represents the most deprived data zone in Scotland and 6,976 represents the least deprived data zone in Scotland. The rankings are split into deciles 1-10, which define the deprivation levels in 10% bands. Data zones in decile 1 are among the 10% most deprived areas in Scotland, and data zones in decile 10 are among the 10% least deprived.

The following table shows the SIMD decile for incineration facilities operational in Scotland in 2019, accepting household or commercial waste.

Waste incinerators are required to monitor and report their carbon dioxide emissions as a ‘Part A process’ under the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012.

The Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012 require permitted sites to report specified pollutants, including carbon dioxide, which are then published in the Scottish Pollutant Release Inventory (SPRI). The SPRI is available here: Scottish Pollutant Release Inventory (SPRI)