Cutting Household Waste in Scotland

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Published: 02 March 2007

Cutting Household Waste in Scotland

A plan to cut the amount of household waste by a quarter of a million tonnes has been published by the Scottish Executive.

Over the next three years, the Executive and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) will work with a range of bodies such as the Waste and Resources Action Programme, to halt & reverse the current trend of rising household waste. Scotland's households produce around 2.8 million tonnes of waste per year.

Key points from the 20-point Household Waste Prevention Action Plan include:

· Reducing food waste by 35,000 tonnes through better awareness, packaging & marketing

· Cutting unwanted mail by 10% (saving 18,000 tonnes)

· Reusing more of the products we throw away (saving 34,000 tonnes)

· Reducing excess packaging & developing lighter packaging (saving 62,000 tonnes)

· Encouraging home composting to divert 71,000 more tonnes from landfill

· Building sustainable design into products & giving better information on the lifespan of key household products (2,000 tonnes)

Environment Minister Ross Finnie said:

"Scotland squanders too many valuable resources.

Every household produces over a tonne of waste per year and that's still growing every year by around 1.5 to 2 per cent. We all need to learn to live within our environmental means.

People are starting to get that message, and have been enthusiastic about recycling and composting.

We now recycle and compost about 25 per cent of our waste, but that too has an economic and environmental cost.

We all need to stop producing waste in the first place and stop throwing perfectly good materials into unsustainable landfill.

The Action Plan sets out how we can tackle that. We will work with retailers, community groups and councils to inform people about how to stop creating rubbish.

We also need to look at the products we use in our homes which are more difficult to recycle, and how we can extend the lifespan of those products. That could mean better, more sustainable design or allowing someone else to reuse.

This is just the start of a process which will cut a quarter of a million tonnes from landfill.

I expect that as people start to realise how they can stop creating rubbish, everyone in Scotland will be able to reduce, reuse and recycle."

Fiona Moriarty, Director of the Scottish Retail Consortium said:

"Retailers are already making steps to help householders reduce their waste.

They recognise the responsibility they have in this area and are keen to build on the work already underway to reduce food, packaging and other wastes.

We look forward to working with the Executive and others in implementing this Action Plan."

Action Points in full

Action 1: SE / SEPA to publish a report by end 2007 on work being done to encourage sustainable design & sustainable products

Action 2: Scottish Waste Aware Group (SWAG) to work with Consumer Protection Bodies, Retailers and others to provide better information to consumers on the expected lifespan of key household products, product guarantees and availability of spare parts

Action 3: SEPA to publish a report by Dec 2007 on potential to introduce further Producer Responsibility initiatives (e.g. for disposable products where a reusable alternative exists)

Action 4: SE will continue to work with Waste and Resources Action Plan (WRAP), SWAG and others to reduce the amount of food waste from Scottish households

Action 5: SE will continue to work with WRAP, SWAG and others to reduce the amount of packaging waste from Scottish households

Action 6: SWAG and others to further promote ways in which consumers can consider their purchasing decisions and prevent household waste

Action 7: SE to work with the British Retail Consortium, retailers, UK Government and plastics industry to agree a code of practice to reduce the environmental impact of plastic and paper carrier bags by 25% by 2008

Action 8: SE / SEPA will take further action with SWAG and others to reduce the amount of unwanted mail delivered to householders by 10% by 2010

Action 9: WRAP, SWAG and others to further encourage home composting to increase diversion rates from 8,500 in 2006-07 to 17,000 tonnes by 2007-08 and 24,000 tonnes by 2009-10

Action 10: SE / SEPA to continue to work with SWAG, Local authorities, manufacturers and Community sector groups to reduce the waste impact of nappies

Action 11: SE / SEPA will develop a 'Reuse Framework' with the Community Recycling Network for Scotland (CRNS) and local authorities by Dec 2007

Action 12: SE / SEPA will work with CRNS to encourage the establishment of a further 20 community compost schemes by 2008

Action 13: SE will work with Momenta to monitor and report the success of projects funded by INCREASE (the Executive grant scheme for the community recycling sector) in 2006-07, 2007-08 which contribute to household waste prevention

Action 14: SE to ensure waste prevention messages are mainstreamed in the Ecoschools Programme and other waste awareness / education initiatives supported by the Scottish Executive.

Action 15: SE will provide advice to local authorities on size of residual bins, frequency of residual collections and use of receptacles for recycling, taking into account local variations

Action 16: SE, working with SEPA, will review annually the possibility of introducing further landfill bans on materials

Action 17: SE, working with SEPA, will review the existing regulations (the Controlled Waste Regulations 1992) which allow charges to be made by local authorities for the collection of specific types of household waste

Action 18: SE will issue guidance to local authorities on mainstreaming waste prevention into Service Level Agreements / Contracts

Action 19: SE will consider further with local authorities and others the role of incentives in recycling / waste prevention

Action 20: SE will consider, as part of Spending Review 2007, if further resources should be allocated to waste prevention specifically and how resources should be allocated to ensure waste is prevented

The Scottish Executive claims that it has no plans to introduce direct charges for householders for the general uplifting of waste.

Further information

Household Waste Prevention Action Plan

Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)

Waste Minimisation - SEPA

Waste and Resources Action Programme

Scottish Retail Consortium

Scottish Waste Aware Group (SWAG)

The Composting Association - Scotland Branch

British Retail Consortium

Community Recycling Network for Scotland (CRNS)

Momenta