Circular economy and waste route map to 2030: strategic environmental assessment - environmental report

2 Introduction

2.1 Background to the Route Map

The Scottish Government is committed to moving towards a circular economy and playing its part to tackle the climate emergency. A circular economy, based on sustainable consumption and production, is essential to power Scotland’s transition to a fair, green and sustainable economy, and critical to meeting our obligations to tackle the twin climate and nature emergencies. Material consumption and waste are primary drivers of nearly every environmental problem Scotland currently faces, from water scarcity to habitat and species loss.

Scotland has had a set of waste and recycling targets in place for over the past decade, spanning the waste hierarchy. As the first Circular Economy and Waste Route Map consultation (2022) set out, Scotland has made good long-term progress towards reaching these ambitions. The total amount of waste going to landfill in Scotland has dropped by over a third over the past decade (3 million tonnes or 30% of all waste managed was sent to landfill in 2021), over 56% of waste was recycled in 2021. In the same year the 2025 target to reduce all waste by 15% was met.

However, in some areas we have fallen short, and progress has not been at the pace and scale required. And while the 2025 targets have provided a good platform for progress over the past decade, we know from the Route Map’s analysis that they are not universally the best indicators to deliver our circular economy, emissions and nature objectives. This recognises that much has changed since most of these waste targets were set in 2010. The climate emergency has intensified our focus on emissions reduction, and how we view and treat our resources.

It is clear that further system-wide changes are required to drive progress, and ensure a more rapid transition to net zero and a fully circular economy in Scotland. A range of transformational measures are already in place or underway to support this, including bans on problematic single-use plastic items, reform of extended producer responsibility for packaging, and a £70 million investment in local authority recycling infrastructure.

Founded on evidence and collaboration, the Circular Economy and Waste Route Map is part of the Scottish Government’s wider response to these challenges. It is designed to drive progress on three key fronts:

1. Setting the strategic direction and laying foundations for how we will deliver our system-wide, comprehensive vision for Scotland’s circular economy from now to 2030 – based on Responsible Production, Responsible Consumption, and Maximising Value from Waste and Energy.

2. Setting out priority actions from now to 2030 to accelerate more sustainable use of our resources across the waste hierarchy. We acknowledge the progress we have made against our existing 2025 waste reduction and recycling targets, the areas we have fallen short, and the lessons we can learn as we set out the framework for what comes next .

3. Reducing emissions associated with resources and waste. In 2024, the Scottish Government will set out how it will continue to drive down emissions in a draft Climate Change Plan (CCP). The Route Map sets out the opportunities we will take to decarbonise the waste sector.

In 2022, the Scottish Government set out a range of proposals across the resources and waste system through its first Route Map consultation. The consultation sought views on the feasibility and ambition of these proposals in order to drive progress against 2025 waste and recycling targets, and to achieve the long-term goal of net zero by 2045. Earlier in 2023, the analysis of responses to this consultation was published.

Building on the first consultation, the Scottish Government has now published a draft Route Map, which seeks to prioritise and focus on the key actions that will unlock progress across the waste hierarchy, outlining how we will deliver and coordinate these actions to achieve maximum positive impact for communities and businesses in Scotland, and drive sustainable use and management of our resources to 2030. Through a second consultation, the Scottish Government is inviting views on these priorities, before the Route Map is finalised later in 2024.

Proposals are grouped into four strategic aims which span action across the waste hierarchy:

• Reduce and reuse:
  • Drive responsible consumption, production and re-use
  • Reduce food waste
  • Embed circular construction practices
• Modernise recycling:
  • Modernise household recycling and reuse services, improving and optimising performance.
  • Support businesses in Scotland to reduce waste and maximise recycling.
• Decarbonise disposal:
  • Understand the best environmental outcomes for specific wastes
  • Ensure there is an appropriate capacity to manage waste
  • Improve environmental outcomes for waste through innovation
  • Incentivise decarbonisation of the waste sector

2.1.1 Strengthen the Circular Economy

The Scottish Government has taken a whole-system approach to developing the Route Map. Delivering a circular economy is not a simple task. It requires sustained transformational system change, and a range of actions that are both complementary and coordinated to drive sustainable management of our resources. If Team Scotland are to maximise the opportunities that a circular economy brings to Scotland, we must maintain a strategic approach to its delivery, ensuring the right structures and support are in place to enable action across the circular economy. Measures will be implemented to ensure this, including strategic interventions and governance, research, data and evidence, sustainable procurement, and skills and training.

Since the first consultation, interventions that were previously included as part of the ‘Cross-cutting measures’ package have been refined and included in the ‘Strengthen the Circular Economy’ strategic aim in the draft Route Map. For the purposes of this assessment, the interventions within this theme are considered out of scope since they will support the other interventions rather than leading to specific impacts themselves.

2.1.2 Reduce and reuse

2.1.2.1 Drive responsible consumption, production, and re-use

This set of measures is aimed at reducing the consumption of products and materials by mainstreaming reuse and repair, and incentivising and promoting sustainable choices. This means prioritising reuse, popularising repair to keep items in use for longer, and working with businesses and the UK Government to drive better product design and ensure producers take responsibility for the environmental impact of what they sell. Interventions will contribute towards reducing the total amount of waste we generate in Scotland and reducing the carbon and environmental footprint of Scotland’s resource use and waste.

The interventions outlined are to:

• Develop and publish a Product Stewardship Plan to identify and tackle the environmental impact of priority products
• Deliver a prioritised approach to the introduction of environmental charges for problematic products
• Introduce a charge for single-use disposable cups
• Consult on actions regarding the environmental impacts of single-use vapes
• Review the feasibility of setting reuse targets
• Develop restrictions on the destruction of unsold consumer goods
• Develop measures to improve the reuse experience for consumers
• Deliver behaviour change-based approaches focused on sustainable consumption, aligned to Let’s Do Net Zero communications
• Identify ways to expand business models that prolong product lifespan

2.1.2.2 Reduce food waste

This group of measures is aimed at accelerating progress against Scotland’s goal to reduce food waste from all sources, building on the 2019 Food Waste Reduction Action Plan. This means addressing the whole food system; resetting our approach to food waste; enhancing our circular bioeconomy; and ensuring we have the data needed to understand and drive progress. We recognise that progress has not been at the scale and speed required, partly as a consequence of Covid-19, and a collective reset of our approach to tackling food waste in Scotland is required. The interventions will contribute towards achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 to halve food waste by 2030.

The interventions outlined are to:

• Deliver an intervention plan to guide long-term work on household food waste reduction behaviour change
• Develop with stakeholders the most effective way to implement mandatory reporting for food waste and surplus by businesses
• Strengthen data and evidence
• Review the rural exemption for food waste recycling, as part of recycling codesign process
• Investigate feasibility of action plans
• Deliver enhanced support for businesses

2.1.2.3 Embed circular construction practices

This set of measures has two aims. The first is to reduce the tonnage of material sent for disposal, thereby reducing waste generated; and the second aim is to reduce the carbon impact of construction activities, which is strongly aligned with tonnage reduction but not always complementary.

The interventions outlined are to:

• Support the development of regional Scottish hubs and networks for the reuse of construction materials and assets
• Develop new and promote existing best practice standards in circular practices within the construction sector, and assess the options for both voluntary and mandatory compliance
• Investigate and promote options to incentivise and build capacity for the refurbishment of buildings
• Investigate and promote ways to reduce soil and stones disturbance, movement and volumes going to landfill
• Review opportunities to accelerate adoption of climate change and circular economy focussed purchasing in construction
• Consider how devolved taxes can incentivise the use of recycled aggregates and support circular economy practices

2.1.3 Modernise recycling

2.1.3.1 Improve recycling from households

These measures are focused on modernising and improving household recycling services and performance, specifically increasing participation in services, tonnage captured, and quality of material. Interventions will directly impact on Scotland’s recycling rate and the carbon impact of household waste.

The interventions outlined are to:

• Facilitate a co-design process with Local Government for high quality, high performing household recycling and reuse services
• Develop a statutory code of practice for household waste services
• Introduce statutory recycling and reuse local performance targets for household waste services
• Strengthen the householder’s duty of care in relation to waste
• Give local authorities more tools to support household recycling and reduce contamination
• Undertake a review of waste and recycling service charging
• Review the monitoring and reporting framework for local authority waste services
• Develop options and consult on the introduction of end destination public reporting of household recycling collected

2.1.3.2 Improve recycling from businesses

Measures to reduce waste and improve recycling from commercial and industrial businesses contribute towards overall reduction of waste, Scotland’s recycling rate, and reducing the carbon and environmental impact of our use of resources and waste.

The interventions are strongly linked to those outlined to reduce consumption across supply chains, such as product stewardship and charges/bans on goods and products.

The interventions outlined are to:

• Review of compliance with commercial recycling requirements
• Co-design measures to improve commercial waste service provisions
• Conduct a national compositional study of waste from commercial premises
• Investigate further steps to promote business-business reuse platforms

In addition to the specific interventions above, most of the measures within the Reduce and Reuse theme will also impact on commercial premises. As these are discussed in section Error! Reference source not found., they are not replicated here but all will impact on commercial premises as well as producers and households as they are aimed at placing better products on the market, ensuring they stay in productive use for longer and are fully recycled at end-of-life.

2.1.4 Decarbonise disposal

The production and management of waste results in environmental impacts and represents missed economic opportunities for these materials. The focus in the Route Map is to prevent materials from becoming waste in the first place. The success of interventions under the other strategic aims directly influences what is left in the residual stream to be managed. As we accelerate the move to a circular economy we will produce less waste. We want to ensure that materials that cannot be avoided, reused or recycled are managed in a way that minimises environmental and climate impacts, encourages management of materials further up the waste hierarchy, and minimises broader societal impacts. Measures aim to drive further reductions in greenhouse gas emissions from the Waste Management Sector, and long-term reduction of emissions from Energy from Waste.

The interventions in this area aim to achieve the best environmental outcome with what is left in the waste stream at disposal, following as much diversion to other routes as possible. The interventions outlined are to:

Priority actions:

• Develop a Residual Waste Plan to 2045
• Facilitate the development of a Sector-Led Plan to minimise the carbon impacts of the Energy from Waste Sector
• Support the inclusion of energy from waste in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), and investigate other fiscal measures to incentivise low carbon disposal
• Review and target materials currently landfilled to identify and drive alternative management routes
• Facilitate the co-production of guidelines for effective community engagement
• Increase the capture of landfill gas

2.2 Background to Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)

SEA is a statutory requirement under the 2005 Act to assess the likely significant environmental effects that a public plan, programme or strategy will have on the environment if implemented. The process identifies how environmental damage can be avoided or reduced by suggesting how it can be changed. It also allows the public to give their view on the programme and its potential environmental impacts. SEA is comprised of five key stages:

1. Screening – determining whether a plan requires a SEA;

2. Scoping – establishing significant environmental topics, setting the environmental baseline and consulting through a Scoping Report;

3. Environmental Assessment – assessing and recording the potential environmental impact of the plan and consulting on the likely significant effects of the draft plan and Environmental Report;

4. Post Adoption Statement (PAS) – undertaking a public consultation exercise on the Environmental Report and developing the monitoring strategy to assess progress once adopted;

5. Monitoring – making the final decision on how or whether to proceed with the proposed activity, plan or strategy, informing the public about that decision and monitoring the effects of implementation.

A combined screening and scoping report was submitted to statutory consultees for a 5-week consultation period which ended on 16 November 2022. The environmental assessment has been amended based on the recommendations received. This is documented in Appendix B.

Through the first Route Map public consultation, specific views on information or evidence that should be considered with regards to the environmental impact of proposals outlined in the Route Map were sought, to inform the development of the Strategic Environmental Assessment process. The findings of the subsequent environmental assessment are presented in this SEA Environmental Report.

The proposed measures are set out in detail in the second draft Route Map Consultation document, published alongside the SEA Environmental Report. The responses received and findings of the SEA will inform the final Route Map and will be reflected upon in the Post Adoption Statement.

Scottish Government will monitor the implementation and environmental effects resulting from implementing the Route Map.

2.3 Purpose of Environmental Report

This Environmental Report contains the SEA findings on the likely environmental implications arising from the measures set out within the draft Circular Economy and Waste Route Map with reference to the topic areas scoped in during the initial scoping phase.

The objectives of the environmental assessment of the Route Map are:

• to ensure that the likely significant environmental effects arising from the measures set out within the Route Map are identified, characterised, and assessed;
• to give the statutory consultees, stakeholders, and the wider public the opportunity to review and comment upon the environmental effects that the Route Map may have on them, their communities, and their interests, and to encourage and support them to make responses detailing any such effects and how to mitigate these; and
• to demonstrate that the introduction of the Route Map has been carried out in a manner deemed to be consistent with the requirements of the SEA Act.

This report has been produced for inclusion within the public consultation stage of the policy development process. It identifies, describes, and evaluates the likely significant environmental effects resulting from the Route Map.