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As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, and the Scottish Government does not hold this information, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

The annual cost of blockages related to wet wipes and other items is some £7.5 million. The number of total blockages in 2024 was 34,635. Notably, around 80% of these blockages are due to the wrong items being put into the sewer network, such as wet wipes, sanitary products, and fats, oils, and grease.

The Scottish Government supported the work of Water UK in developing and promoting the “Fine to Flush” certification while this scheme was in operation. The labelling of products, including that of sanitary items such as wet wipes, remains a reserved issue. We are considering future options in this area.

The Scottish Government has continually supported Scottish Water’s public awareness campaigns on the correct disposal of sanitary items, including wet wipes. Their current ‘Nature Calls’ campaign has a specific focus on binning and not flushing wet wipes. In addition, we have supported various public awareness campaigns run by environmental NGOs, including the Marine Conservation Society which is a valued member of our Marine Litter Strategy Steering Group.

There are no regulations in Scotland relating to the ‘flushability’ of wet wipes, therefore there can be no associated enforcement activities or penalties imposed upon companies. Our forthcoming regulations to restrict market access to wet wipes containing plastic are centred on the material content of the product, and these regulations will be enforceable if wet wipes containing plastic are sold or supplied outwith the exemptions for medical or industrial uses.

The Scottish Government is committed that extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR) should cover the full net costs of both binned and ground litter cleanup and disposal, and to its introduction in regulations as soon as practicable. There is not yet the availability of the data which would allow accurate cost recovery calculations to be made for litter costs in year two of the scheme.

PackUK, the scheme administrator for pEPR, will fund public information campaigns focused on the reduction of littered packaging, and report on items of packaging commonly littered or disposed of in street bins. We will continue to engage with local authorities, producers, and waste management companies as a costing model is developed and the underpinning data becomes available.

The Scottish Government is committed that extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR) should cover the full net costs of both binned and ground litter cleanup and disposal, and to its introduction in regulations as soon as practicable. However, binned and ground littered household packaging cleanup and disposal costs are not yet included in disposal cost fees producers are obligated to pay under the pEPR scheme.

In line with the Verity House Agreement, funding resulting from extended producer responsibility for packaging (pEPR) will not be ring-fenced or directed, unless there is a clear joint understanding to do so. However, the purpose of the funding, to pay for the cost of managing household packaging waste - is clearly set out in legislation.

Payments under pEPR will support the costs of effective and efficient collection systems for household packaging waste. This includes the costs of incineration. Payments will be adjusted in future years to account for additional costs that local authorities may face, including those incurred under the proposed expansion of the emissions trading scheme.

Zero Waste Scotland undertook an options appraisal in 2024/25 to assess the impact of introducing kerbside collections for plastic film and flexibles in terms of recycling tonnage, carbon impacts and costs. This will be published later in 2025.

At a national level, the analysis projected that collecting film and flexibles loose with other plastics as part of existing collections would lead to a saving of £680k per annum due to reduced disposal costs, as recycling films and flexibles is cheaper than current costs for disposal. Alternatively, the options appraisal projected that if plastic film and flexible packaging is collected within a bag (to aid segregation at a material recovery facility), this would result in additional costs of £1.4million per annum nationally due to the cost to local authorities to purchase and provide bags to households. These estimates do not include costs related to modifications that may be required at waste transfer stations to segregate these materials.

The cost to local authorities for introducing household collections for recyclable plastic film and flexible packaging will vary between authorities, based on the approach they take to collecting these materials, existing service set-up, contractual arrangements and the reprocessor gate fee they are able to negotiate.

Scottish Government officials, supported by Zero Waste Scotland, are in regular contact with representatives of public agencies as well as private sector businesses to help ensure readiness for the forthcoming ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste.

This engagement will continue, in order to ensure the effective implementation of the ban as part of our progress towards achieving our net zero ambitions.

Since 2011 the Scottish Government has invested over £65 million to develop ChargePlace Scotland (CPS) with the aim of encouraging the uptake of electric vehicles (EV). To grow CPS, Scottish Ministers have provided grant funding to over 400 organisations across the public, private and third sectors to install charge points and make them publicly available on the CPS network. The grantees are the owners of the charge points on CPS and responsible for tariffs, ongoing maintenance and upgrades. CPS’ role as the operator is to make them available to the public so that drivers can easily locate and pay for charging sessions.

As a direct result of this funding and increasing private sector investment Scotland now has over 6,900 public charge points. A target for 6,000 public charge points was met in October 2024, two years ahead of schedule.

In addition to investment in public charge points, Scottish Ministers have also provided over £19 million for the installation of over 23,000 lower powered charge points at homes and at workplaces, complementing the public charging network. Ministers remain committed to supporting drivers in the year ahead, setting aside further funding to support consumer incentive schemes for the installation of EV infrastructure at people’s homes, workplaces and public places.

Scottish Ministers’ vision: Vision for world class public electric vehicle charging network | Transport Scotland for the future of public EV charging and the accompanying Draft Implementation Plan: Vision for Scotland's public electric vehicle charging network - Scottish Government consultations - Citizen Space both set out a clear direction for the future of EV infrastructure in Scotland. The Scottish Government will continue to enable increasing private sector investment, whilst targeting public funding towards those parts of Scotland less likely to benefit from standalone private sector investment in public EV charging. This includes the £30 million provided to local authorities through our EV Infrastructure Fund which is on track secure additional private sector investment in public EV charging and support the provision of a further 6,000 public charge points across Scotland.