Environment strategy: behaviour changes needed to achieve Scotland's goals for circular economy

9. Appendix 2

Table 9: Interventions REA Search String

Target: Population

String:

consum* OR citizen* OR domestic OR end-user OR household* OR individual* OR public OR resid* OR lifestyle OR behaviour* OR pattern* OR practice

Target: Behaviour

String:

Circular* AND avoid* OR borrow* OR circular* OR efficient OR leas* OR lend* OR lifespan OR longevity OR maintain* OR prolong* OR reclaim* OR recondition* OR reduc* OR refurbish* OR refus* OR rent* OR repair* OR self repair OR repurpos* OR resell* OR responsible retain* OR reus* OR rewar* OR reworn OR shar* OR sustainable OR upcycl* OR hir* OR rescu* OR swap* OR sell* OR giv* OR dispos*

Target: Sector

String:

food OR "food waste" cloth* OR textile* OR apparel OR fashion OR garment* product OR durable OR good* OR appliance OR transport OR car OR travel

Target: Impact

String:

abilit* OR accept* OR action* OR activitie* OR adopt* OR attitude* OR barrier* OR behavio* OR belief* OR buy* OR capabilit* OR choice OR consumption* OR conversion OR decision* OR demand OR determinant* OR facilitat* OR factor* OR habit OR implicat* OR improve* OR influenc* OR insight* OR intent* OR opportunit* OR outcome* OR participat* OR pattern* OR perception* OR practice* OR preference* OR purchas* OR transition* OR uptake OR value* OR willing*

Table 10: Literature & stakeholder evidence-based overview of factors & interventions

Sector: Textiles

Macklin Category: Optimise Item Use

Priority Behaviour: Wear your own clothes for longer

Factors (Drivers / Barriers):

• Barriers:
  • Fast vs. slow fashion cultural norms
  • Lack of valuing clothing; low cost of clothing
  • High accessibility of cheap clothing
• Drivers:
  • Appreciation and value for clothing items

Interventions:

• Anti-consumption / slow fashion education focusing on fair labour, local production, artisanship, heritage, quality
• Education on negative impacts of fast fashion
• Definitions of fast fashion to combat greenwashing
• Apps for wardrobe tracking
• Apps connecting people with clothing stewardship services

Scottish Context:

• Zero Waste Scotland educational campaigns
• Circular Textiles Fund
• Circular Communities Scotland repair workshops
• Routemap Product Stewardship Plan (priority status for textiles)
• Adapt Section 10 Circular Economy (Scotland) Act for fast fashion
• Tax deductions for repair services
• Keep Scotland Beautiful Sustainable Living Week
• Limit overconsumption‑driving retail practices
• Extended producer responsibility

Ranking:

• 1 – Avoid*

Sector: Textiles

Macklin Category: Get Access Without Ownership

Priority Behaviour: Share / borrow / rent items locally

Factors:

• Barriers:
  • Safety, quality, consistency of quality
  • Not a normalised aspect of clothing usage
  • Lack of space for clothing processing
  • Low-quality fast fashion undesirable for re-purchase
• Driver:
  • Trends in second-hand clothing consumption

Interventions:

• Increase transparency in operations around potential savings, cleanliness of garments
• Collaboration with brands to disseminate information
• Fund circularity-promoting business to optimise operations
• Fund research on optimal integration of renting
• Foster community around clothes sharing via collaboration with zero-waste hubs and charities
• Emphasise space-saving benefits
• Target occasion wear, workwear or clothing items only worn once or a few times (i.e., ski costume)

Scottish Context:

• Share and Repair Network
• ZWS Circular Economy Business Support Service (defunct)
• Tax deductions for businesses engaging in repair/ reuse services
• Develop Scotland-wide curriculum for clothing stewardship/ expand and implement home economics curricular
• Product passports with health/ safety information
• Revolve Reuse Knowledge Hub to bolster credibility/ compliance with high standard safety measures for reuse businesses
• Develop standardised eco-labels for new goods, potentially labels discouraging consumers from purchasing high-impact items
• Decrease imports of high-impact items
• Work with councils to optimise space for second-hand/ rental clothing processing
• Normalise clothing sharing ie, via community events, school-based initiatives
• Remove VAT on second-hand clothing purchases

Ranking:

• 3 – Share*
• 4 – Lease*

Sector: Textiles

Macklin Category: Extend Items’ Life

Priority Behaviour: Maintain and care for clothing

Factors:

• Barriers:
  • Gender/ age-related norms around repair (women, older people more likely to engage)
  • Lack of repair skills (especially among younger people
• Driver:
  • Young people generally amenable to learning repair skills

Interventions:

• Integrate clothing repair into school curricula
• Make clothing repair guides/ videos available online
• In-person repair café knowledge sharing events
• Situate clothing repair learning opportunities in second hand store/ charity shops

Scottish context:

• Share and Repair Network
• ZWS Circular Economy Business Support Service (defunct)
• Tax deductions for businesses engaging in repair/ reuse services
• Develop Scotland-wide curriculum for clothing stewardship/ expand and implement home economics curricular
• Product passports with health/ safety information
• Revolve Reuse Knowledge Hub to bolster credibility/ compliance with high standard safety measures for reuse businesses
• Develop standardised eco-labels for new goods, potentially labels discouraging consumers from purchasing high-impact items
• Decrease imports of high-impact items
• Work with councils to optimise space for second-hand/ rental clothing processing
• Normalise clothing sharing ie, via community events, school-based initiatives
• Remove VAT on second-hand clothing purchases

Ranking:

• 2 – Maintain and Repair*

Sector: Textiles

Macklin Category: Extend items life

Priority Behaviour: Maintain and care for clothing & Repurpose and upcycle (self or locally)

Factors:

• Barriers:
  • Gender/ age-related norms around repair (women, older people more likely to engage)
  • Lack of repair skills (especially among younger people
  • Low-quality, cheap clothing difficult to repair
• Driver:
  • Young people generally amenable to learning repair skills

Interventions:

• Integrate clothing repair into school curricula
• Make clothing repair guides/ videos available online
• In-person repair café knowledge sharing events
• Situate clothing repair learning opportunities in second hand store/ charity shops

Scottish context:

• Share and Repair Network
• ZWS Circular Economy Business Support Service (defunct)
• Tax deductions for businesses engaging in repair/ reuse services
• Develop Scotland-wide curriculum for clothing stewardship/ expand and implement home economics curricular
• Product passports with health/ safety information
• Revolve Reuse Knowledge Hub to bolster credibility/ compliance with high standard safety measures for reuse businesses
• Develop standardised eco-labels for new goods, potentially labels discouraging consumers from purchasing high-impact items
• Decrease imports of high-impact items
• Work with councils to optimise space for second-hand/ rental clothing processing
• Normalise clothing sharing ie, via community events, school-based initiatives
• Remove VAT on second-hand clothing purchases

Ranking:

• 2 - Maintain and Repair*
• 2 - Maintain and Repair (if keeping)*

Sector: Textiles

Macklin Category: Minimise acquisition impact

Priority Behaviour: Buy second hand & Buy durable clothing

Factors:

• Barriers:
  • High cost of higher quality clothing
  • Men, older people less likely to engage
• Driver:
  • High interest/ trendiness of second-hand clothing in young people
  • Consumer preferences for high-quality, durable clothing

Interventions:

• Educational campaigns framing second hand clothing as trendy, creative, revolutionary and political act of sustainability
• Increase awareness of circularity in fashion i.e., circular materials, materials that are lower-impact, regenerative
• Provide information on cost savings of buying durable clothing in long-term
• Standardised circularity/ eco-labelling
• Further research into innovative circular textiles
• Collaborate with brands for multi-faceted educational campaigns around circularity (i.e., social media, radio, TV ads etc)
• Target safety concerns and positive environmental impact in messaging

Scottish context:

• Share and Repair Network
• ZWS Circular Economy Business Support Service (defunct)
• Tax deductions for businesses engaging in repair/ reuse services
• Develop Scotland-wide curriculum for clothing stewardship/ expand and implement home economics curricular
• Product passports with health/ safety information
• Revolve Reuse Knowledge Hub to bolster credibility/ compliance with high standard safety measures for reuse businesses
• Develop standardised eco-labels for new goods, potentially labels discouraging consumers from purchasing high-impact items
• Decrease imports of high-impact items
• Work with councils to optimise space for second-hand/ rental clothing processing
• Normalise clothing sharing ie, via community events, school-based initiatives
• Remove VAT on second-hand clothing purchases

Ranking:

• 6 - Buy Quality*

Sector: Transport

Macklin Category: Get access without ownership

Priority Behaviour: Car/ bike/ e-bike/ scooter sharing

Factors:

• Drivers:
  • High environmental concern strongly correlated with willingness to avoid car usage
  • Car ownership is expensive
• Barriers
  • Lack of access to transport sharing in rural areas
  • High convenience of owning one's own car

Interventions:

• Target daily transport habits for maximal impact
• Foster environmental concern with targeted education campaigns
• Fund car club pilots to establish best practices and prove efficacy of schemes
• Fees for car usage
• Create bike/ carpool lane infrastructure, safety improvements
• Improve digital infrastructure, broadband access

Scottish Context:

• Transport Scotland funding for community carsharing hubs
• Energy Savings Trust administration capacity for carsharing initiatives
• Pilot schemes to establish best practices, upscale
• Collaborate with local authorities to assess local needs

Ranking:

• 3 - Share*

Sector: Transport

Macklin Category: Optimise item use

Priority Behaviour: Share vehicle with others

Factors:

• Drivers:
  • High environmental concern strongly correlated with willingness to avoid car usage
  • Car ownership is expensive
• Barriers
  • Lack of access to transport sharing in rural areas
  • High convenience of owning one's own car

Interventions:

• Improve research into drivers/ barriers to carpooling with friends/ colleagues etc
• Expand carpooling lane presence

Scottish Context:

• Department of Transport Local Authority Toolkit for Lift Sharing

Ranking:

• 3 - Share*

Sector: Transport

Macklin Category: Extend items life

Priority Behaviour: Maintain and repair the cars and bikes

Factors:

• Drivers:
  • Bike repair more straight-forward
• Barriers
  • Women less likely to engage
  • Car repair highly technical, high co if not executed properly

Interventions:

• Facilitate skill sharing of bike repair in local repair hubs

Scottish Context:

• Circular Communities Scotland Repair hub network

Ranking:

• 2 - Maintain and Repair*

Sector: Food

Macklin Category: Minimise acquisition impact

Priority Behaviour: Buy more plant-based protein foods & Buy foods from recirculated materials

Factors:

• Drivers:
  • Consumers generally aware of environmental benefits of plant-based eating
  • Consumers generally amendable to eating more plant-based
• Barriers
  • Older individuals less accepting of dietary changes
  • Cultural preferences for meat-heavy diets
  • Lack of knowledge of how to prepare plant-based foods, especially from scratch
  • Concerns over safety of up-cycled foods

Interventions:

• ZWS educational campaigns
• Educational campaigns targeting cost, health and environmental benefits of plant-based foods
• Educate public on approaches to preparing palatable, culturally appropriate
• Improve transparency around circular food production techniques
• Promote messaging around circularity in food systems, which is less prevalent in Scottish government campaigns

Scottish Context:

• Good Food Nation Plan
• 2019 Food Waste Reduction Action Plan
• Circular business support hubs

Ranking:

• 2 - Prioritised
• 2 - Prioritised

Sector: Food

Macklin Category: Optimise item

Priority Behaviour:

• Buy tinned, frozen, preserved food
• Use up leftover food
• Shop from own cupboards/ fridge first
• Make food plan and stick to it
• Freeze/ dry/ preserve food

Factors:

• Barriers:
  • Preferences for fresh food, stigma around canned foods
  • Lack of knowledge of how to best prepare preserved foods
  • Complex social/ environmental factors around food purchasing, time poverty
  • Low correlation with intent not to waste

Interventions:

• Emphasise cost efficacy, ways to prepare tinned/ frozen foods
• Facilitate skill sharing around preserved food preparation
• Collaborate with retailers to provide knowledge (print and in-person, on labels)
• Educate consumers on ways in which environment shapes food behaviours i.e., high availability of bulk packaging drives waste
• Encourage shopping at smaller markets/ retailers
• Encourage buying smaller/ loose quantities of food
• Regulate packaging at retailer level to minimise waste
• Pay-As-You-Throw schemes
• Fund/ research public canteens

Scottish Context:

• ZWS CAN-paign
• Pay-as-You-Throw schemes
• Expand public diners, create Good Food Nation Act provision
• Retailer requirements/ recommendations for best packaging practices (i.e., discourage bulk packaging)
• ZWS, Food Standards Scotland toolkits
• Good Food Nation Plan education
• 2019 Food Waste Reduction Action Plan education

Ranking:

• 2 – Prioritised
• 1 - Most prioritised (prevention)
• 1 - Most prioritised (prevention)
• 1 - Most prioritised (prevention)
• 1 - Most prioritised (prevention)

Sector: Food

Macklin Category: Extend item life

Priority Behaviour:

• Store food correctly
• Check fridge/ freezer temps
• Share excess food locally

Factors:

• Barriers
  • Lack of knowledge around preservation techniques, optimising freezer temp etc.
  • Some preservation techniques high time-intensive (i.e., pickling)
  • Safety concerns

Interventions:

• Educate public about preservation techniques to ensure food freshness/ safety
• Retailer workshops around food preservation
• Present cost-saving data
• Leverage local community groups/ spaces to share food

Scottish Context:

• ZWS research/ educational campaigns

Ranking:

• 1 - Most prioritised (prevention)
• 1 - Most prioritised (prevention)
• 2 - Prioritised

*Based on Maitre-Ekern and Dalhammar hierarchy