Chamber and committees

Prevention, reuse and recycling are always preferable waste management options, over energy recovery or disposal of waste.

We have ambitious targets to improve the way we manage materials by reducing waste, increasing recycling and keeping materials at a higher value for longer but still need capacity to dispose of residual waste while we make the transition to a circular economy in Scotland.

This year’s Programme for Government sets out an ambitious set of measures to help make it easier for households and businesses to support this goal, including the establishment of a £70 million fund to improve local authority recycling collection infrastructure. The Parliament has also now passed legislation to implement a deposit return scheme for Scotland which will help to boost recycling, and we are working with the other governments of the UK on reform of the packaging producer responsibility system to reduce waste and improve recycling.

Energy from waste (EfW) operators submit quarterly data returns on the types and quantities of waste they accept. These are included in the Official Statistics on Waste Incineration, available at https://www.sepa.org.uk/environment/waste/waste-data/waste-data-reporting/

These returns include items that are unsuitable for processing and picked out of the waste before processing or ash after processing. The next destination of waste leaving the site is a voluntary field in the quarterly return form.

EfW operators must report the types of waste they accept by EWC Code. There is no requirement to report a more detailed compositional analysis of the residual waste they accept. There are no plans to include such a requirement in the regulations.

A recent report by Zero Waste Scotland suggests that the greenhouse gas emissions from the incineration of residual waste at Scottish energy from waste plants are on average lower than landfilling the same waste. That being said, in terms of environmental impact prevention, reuse and recycling are always preferable over energy recovery or disposal of waste as waste management options.

The most recent statistics shows that carbon emissions associated with Scotland’s household waste in 2019 dropped once again on the previous year to reach the lowest level since official recording began. These statistics are available here: https://www.sepa.org.uk/environment/waste/waste-data/waste-data-reporting/

A number of relevant projects in remote areas have been funded through the following funds:

• Litter and Flytipping Community Action Fund 2014-2015
• Flytipping Small Grants Scheme 2011-2013
• Recycle on The Go Infrastructure Fund

In addition, Zero Waste Scotland are the lead for flytipping on the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime, which includes inputting to regional partnerships against rural crime (PARCs) that focus on flytipping prevention.

The following table provides a summary of the number of calls received by the SEPA Call Centre Dumb Dumpers Hotline

We have recently provided grant funding to support Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB) and Marine Conservation Society (MCS) volunteer-led clean ups and to provide clean, disinfected equipment for small group clean ups in locations across Scotland.

There have been 20 ‘Community Hubs’ set up by KSB, hosted by local organisations, providing kit to local volunteers and 30 sets of kit sent out by MCS to 30 volunteers groups in coastal areas across Scotland.

Previously, a number of community-based projects have been supported including providing funding of £650,000 between 2013-16 to support the Clean Up Scotland campaign led by Keep Scotland Beautiful. This included key targets to engage harder to reach communities and blackspots and to support action beyond the litter pick. In addition, over £1.5 million in grant funded projects was provided to communities and organisations through a range of initiatives. These are: Flytipping Small Grants Scheme, Recycle on the Go, Litter and Flytipping Community Action Fund, Community Options Grant Fund, Innovation Funds and Contextual Messaging Toolkit Communications Fund. These were administered by Zero Waste Scotland.

Through funding supplied to stakeholders, 4,254 Recycle on the Go bins were installed across 22 local authority areas between 2011-2016, providing an estimated 600,000 litres of capacity.

An analysis suggests that the 3,095 bins (450,000 litres of capacity) installed during 2011-2013 collected between 1,300 and 1,900 tonnes per year.

A contextual messaging toolkit has been developed based on behavioural insights research Public Perceptions and Concerns Around Litter carried published in 2015. The litter toolkit cost £120,000 and helps to provide effective context-specific and local communication messages.

A grant fund was available to organisations to bid in to use the toolkit in situ, a total of 9 organisations received funding across Falkirk, Edinburgh, Highland, North Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Argyll and Bute. A total of £43,000 was awarded to the 9 funding recipients. We do not hold longitudinal data that would allow us to accurately represent what the reduction in litter frequency/volume has been as a result of the local messaging.

The Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse (Scotland) was revised and published in 2018. Through Zero Waste Scotland, over 60 engagement sessions were held with local authorities and other duty holders, and these included material on the importance of monitoring and evaluation.

Zero Waste Scotland has developed a new litter monitoring methodology and software solution that aligns with the revised Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse (Scotland) 2018. This will provide granular information on litter categories as well as including flytipping reporting functionality previously used in FlyMapper. This is undergoing final testing and will be implemented soon for duty holders and other land managers. Functionality will include spatial data to help inform the development of targeted interventions.

We have also supported the Upstream Battle Campaign led by Keep Scotland Beautiful which is developingf a citizen-based monitoring approach.

Zero Waste Scotland published a qualitative report in 2015 that sought to understand both perceptions of litter and attitudes towards litter to help inform and shape key behavioural interventions. Additionally, a short survey of public attitudes and behaviours in relation to litter and flytipping was commissioned in 2016 and the annual Scottish Household Survey provides a snapshot of public attitudes to littering in local areas.