Single-use food containers: call for evidence - summary of responses

Background to Call for Evidence

6. Material consumption and waste are the primary drivers of nearly every environmental problem we currently face, from water scarcity to habitat and species loss. Plastic waste, much of it single-use, is not only wasteful but generates litter that is hugely damaging for our oceans, rivers and ecosystems. Every year, hundreds of millions of pieces of single-use plastic are wasted in Scotland. They litter our coasts, pollute our oceans and contribute to the climate emergency. That is why, as part of our target to reach net-zero by 2045 and tackle the nature crisis, the Scottish Government is taking action to reduce the environmental impact of single-use plastic products.

7. One key strand of our work in this area has been to enact the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 to reduce the impact of a number of environmentally-damaging products. The regulations banned the sale, and some cases the manufacture, of a number of single-use products including plastic straws, cutlery and expanded polystyrene cups and food containers. The Scottish Government has since committed to expanding the scope of policy activity and regulations to other single-use plastic items in order to protect the environment and further support a transition to a greener, fairer economy. To support future policy direction in this area and build a solid evidence base for any future intervention, a call for evidence on single-use plastic items and products was released in April 2022.

8. This call for evidence had a focus on single-use plastic food containers as well as other single-use (non-plastic) food containers. It also called for evidence on a range of other items including: bowls, trays and platters; period and incontinence products; sachets; tobacco filters; and fruit and vegetable packaging. The call for evidence invited the public (individuals and organisations) to submit evidence on any or each of these items based on a number of key themes, which were:

• the environmental impact of these single-use items
• the size and nature of the market for these items in Scotland
• effective actions taken to reduce consumption of these items
• barriers to implementing policy measures (e.g. bans, regulations) to reduce consumption of these items
• potential impacts of policy measures on businesses
• potential impacts of policy measures on people with protected characteristics or who experience socio-economic disadvantage