Consultations on circular economy launched

On 30 May 2022, the Scottish Government launched consultations on a circular economy bill and a waste route map, which are being proposed in order to help tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis by supporting Scotland’s transition to a zero waste and circular economy.

Key proposals of the measures include:

• banning the destruction of unsold goods to ensure that products never end up landfilled or incinerated when they could be used or recycled
• improving household recycling and reuse services, and consulting on separate kerbside collection of textiles by 2025
• introducing new reporting to show where recycling goes after collection
• reducing the consumption of problematic single-use items and promote re-use of products
• introducing new powers to tackle littering from vehicles
• setting a mandatory requirement for businesses to report surplus and waste figures for goods, such as food and textiles
• introducing powers to set local recycling targets

Scotland’s circular economy targets, outlined in the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan, include ending the landfilling of biodegradable municipal waste by 2025, reducing the percentage of all waste sent to landfill to 5% by 2025, and recycling 70% of all waste by 2025.

Source: Scottish Government, 30 May 2022