Question reference: S6W-03269
- Asked by: Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 23 September 2021
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Current status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 4 October 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it plans to take in response to the most recent household recycling statistics from SEPA, which showed a national rate of 44.9% against a target of 60%.
Answer
The latest official waste data published by SEPA for 2019 shows that two-thirds of local authorities improved their recycling rate between 2018 and 2019.
However, while we have made significant progress towards our ambitious waste reduction and recycling targets, we know that we must accelerate progress.
This year we will make our first investments from the £70m Recycling Improvement Fund, to support local authorities in improving recycling infrastructure; and will work with industry, local government and environmental groups to develop a route map to achieving our targets to 2025 and beyond. We are also working with local government to review the Household Recycling Charter’s Code of Practice, to help make it easier for householders to recycle the right things and encourage high levels of citizen participation in waste prevention, recycling, and reuse.
We are working with the other administrations on the introduction of an extended producer responsibility system for packaging that will recover full net costs from producers and allocate funding to local authorities for the provision of effective and efficient kerbside recycling services. This will support improved recycling for all packaging types.