Scotland's Climate Change Plan – 2026-2040 - Children's version

Section 3: Waste

Policies will help build a more circular economy in Scotland, where we value our resources and keep them in use for as long as possible. This will help households and businesses to reduce waste, reuse, repair and recycle more, and reduce the impact of waste disposal on our environment and our climate.

Key Policies in the Plan:

We are helping businesses to take responsibility for the environmental impacts of the products they produce and sell.

This will help reduce the impact of products like clothing, packaging, batteries and electrical and electronic equipment throughout a product’s life.

We will take actions to cut food waste across households and business and introduce a Deposit Return Scheme for single-use drink containers. Recycling for households and commercial organisations will be modernised.

We will reduce emissions from landfill by banning biodegradable municipal waste from being sent to landfill, and capturing the harmful gas that landfill sites produce.