National litter and flytipping strategy: year 2 update and year 3 action plan 2025-2026

Ongoing activity and new actions

Year 3 action

Litter

1. Building on work undertaken in Year 2 on a roadside litter intervention along the A9, continue to collaborate with key stakeholders (local authorities, duty bodies and businesses) to further develop, roll-out and test the intervention in three further local authorities. The methodology, materials, and supporting research, will be collated into a toolkit for wider roll-out to compliment and support the forthcoming littering from vehicles provision that will allow enforcement bodies to fine registered keepers for littering.

Lead organisation: Keep Scotland Beautiful

2. Empowering Communities: Maintain, promote, and further expand the Community Litter Hub, integrating practical information and guidance on tackling flytipping and marine litter. The Hub will actively support community-led projects and coordinate the Community Reference Group (CRG) to ensure the platform meets local needs.

Lead organisation: Keep Scotland Beautiful

3. All delivery partners will continue to promote collaborative learning and resource sharing through the Litter Managers Network and SPARC, ensuring best practice, case studies, and updates on policy changes are systematically shared across the sector.

Lead organisation: All partners

4. The Scottish Government will draft the regulations required to introduce the civil penalty for littering from vehicles, as provided for in S18 of the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024. Preparations will also be made to consult on the details of the offence, including the penalty level, appeals process, and operational guidance, to ensure a fair and effective system is in place before implementation.

Lead organisation: Scottish Government

Flytipping

5. Preparatory work has begun to implement Section 12 of the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024, which amends Section 59 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. Activity in 2025/26 will focus on developing the necessary legislative framework and appeals process, in collaboration with local authorities and SEPA, ahead of producing guidance to support consistent enforcement.

Lead organisation: Scottish Government

6. The Scottish Government will continue working with COPFS to ensure any guidance or other relevant resource is shared with stakeholders where appropriate.

Lead organisation: Scottish Government

7. The Scottish Government and SEPA will explore interest in an event for private landowners, share good practice, and promote collaboration on flytipping prevention.

Lead organisation: Scottish Government & SEPA

8. SEPA will expand its trial of a partnership enforcement model to additional local authority areas, with a focus on shared investigations, data exchange, and proportionate enforcement action.

Lead organisation: SEPA

9. SEPA will look to expand the trial of the partnership enforcement model to work directly with other public bodies and private landowners to address flytipping incidents on private land.

Lead organisation: SEPA

10. SEPA will further develop and extend its digital interventions to target unregistered waste carriers and rogue traders operating online to disrupt illegal advertising and strengthen intelligence gathering.

Lead organisation: SEPA

11. The Scottish Government will explore options for a centralised online Knowledge Hub to house best practice resources, technical guidance, and case studies on litter and flytipping, making information easier to access and supporting a consistent approach across Scotland.

Lead organisation: Scottish Government

12. Keep Scotland Beautiful will expand the Community Litter Hub’s scope to include dedicated tools and resources for tackling flytipping, helping community groups connect with enforcement agencies and promote responsible waste management.

Lead organisation: Keep Scotland Beautiful

13. Keep Scotland Beautiful will continue to coordinate the Community Reference Group to support the development and delivery of community-led flytipping prevention actions, ensuring their views and experiences inform strategic decisions.

Lead organisation: Keep Scotland Beautiful

Data improvement: Litter and flytipping

14. The Scottish Government will continue to consider how best to implement Section 13 of the Circular Economy Act 2024, working with the Data Management Group and enforcement agencies to ensure the approach taken is cost effective and flexible.

Lead organisation: Scottish Government

15. Keep Scotland Beautiful will maintain leadership of the Data Management Group, supporting the delivery and evaluation of the NLFS, promoting knowledge exchange, and coordinating best practice to improve data on litter and flytipping.

Lead organisation: Keep Scotland Beautiful

16. Keep Scotland Beautiful will finalise the national litter indicator framework and consolidate associated data collection processes, promoting best practice in monitoring, evaluation, and reporting.

Lead organisation: Keep Scotland Beautiful

17. Keep Scotland Beautiful will build on its Citizen Science Coordinators Forum by improving the quality and consistency of citizen science approaches to litter data.

Lead organisation: Keep Scotland Beautiful

18. Keep Scotland Beautiful will work with local authorities and duty bodies to adopt the agreed approach for transitioning from LMS to a consistent LEAMS system, aligning data collection with policy needs and ensuring continuity of reporting.

Lead organisation: Keep Scotland Beautiful

19. Keep Scotland Beautiful will continue to collaborate with academic institutions to explore the causes and impacts of littering behaviours, supporting evidence-based policy development and targeted prevention strategies.

Lead organisation: Keep Scotland Beautiful