- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 4 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on establishing an annual appraisal of waste crime impacts.
Answer
Waste crime has a serious and detrimental impact on our environment, communities and compliant businesses. The Scottish Government’s Serious and Organised Crime Strategy recognises waste crime as a strategic threat.
In respect of an annual appraisal of waste crime impacts, SEPA contribute to the Scottish Multi Agency Strategic Threat Assessment (SMASTA) on an annual basis, which now includes a section on Environmental Crime. This is compiled by Police Scotland with input from relevant partners.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 4 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what options it is considering to ensure that glass does not exit closed-loop recycling, if the forthcoming deposit return scheme does not include a re-melt target.
Answer
Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, as amended by the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012, requires any person who manages controlled waste to apply the Waste Hierarchy set out in Article 4(1) of Directive 2009/98/EC (the “Waste Framework Directive”) and to take reasonable steps to increase the quantity and quality of recyclable materials, with the desired outcome being closed-loop recycling.
The scheme administrator for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme will therefore have to ensure glass is sorted and processed in a way that maintains the recyclate in a high-value state.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 4 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to develop a dedicated framework to support businesses to report and act on nature-related risks, and what funding it has committed to such work.
Answer
The Scottish Government is engaging with the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) a market-led, UN supported, international initiative, which builds on the model developed by the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), and aims to create a framework for how organisations can address environmental risks and opportunities. We are supportive of the objectives of this work, and will ensure that there is effective coordination with Scottish Government policies.
The Scottish Government is committed to reducing the impact of Scotland’s consumption on nature and societies, including our impacts in other countries. This is an outcome sought by our Environment Strategy, and our progress was discussed in the 2020 report Scotland and the sustainable development goals: a national review to drive action. Reducing the impact of our consumption on the natural environment is an important driver of our work to create a more circular economy. The Scottish Government will continue to work with partners and through our own policies and legislative proposals to reduce the impacts on and risks to nature from consumption in Scotland.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 4 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of what the impact would be of including a re-melt target for glass collected under the forthcoming deposit return scheme.
Answer
As per the answer to question S5W-33510 on 2 December 2020, the Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) Full Business Case ( https://www.gov.scot/publications/deposit-return-scheme-scotland-full-business-case-stage-1/ ) was developed on the basis of glass being collected whole under Scotland’s DRS. Glass collected whole is suitable for re-melt, subject to minimal handling losses.
All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 4 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how much glass it anticipates would exit closed-loop recycling and be recycled as aggregate if the forthcoming deposit return scheme does not include a re-melt target.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-03192 on 4 October 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 4 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government whether 1 July 2022 continues to be the go-live date for the introduction of the deposit return scheme.
Answer
An independent review of the go-live date for Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme was conducted in June this year. We are considering its findings and I will provide an update to Parliament and businesses shortly.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom Arthur on 1 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government how it will ensure that all nationally significant infrastructure projects deliver a net biodiversity gain.
Answer
The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 sets out six outcomes to which a future National Planning Framework (NPF) should work towards, including securing positive effects for biodiversity, and we are developing new proposals which deliver positive outcomes for biodiversity from development without the need for overly complex metrics.
We will lay a draft NPF4 in the Scottish Parliament this autumn and will carry out extensive public consultation at the same time. We anticipate producing a final version of NPF4 for approval and adoption around spring 2022.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 September 2021
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Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 6 October 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to promote sustainable public procurement.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 6 October 2021
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 21 September 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 29 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment has been made of future opportunities for kerbside recycling of glass packaging containers that are not included in the forthcoming deposit return scheme.
Answer
No specific assessment has been carried out for kerbside glass recycling. However, the Scottish Government is committed to review the Household Recycling Charter’s Code of Practice, which aims to bring more consistency in household recycling services, and encourage higher participation in waste prevention, recycling and reuse. This review will directly consider the impact on kerbside recycling of measures like the introduction of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme, and reform to Extended Producer Responsibility, and enable the Code of Practice to evolve in line with developments across the waste and recycling sector.
We are working with the other administrations on the introduction of an extended producer responsibility system for packaging that will recover full net costs from producers and allocate funding to local authorities for the provision of effective and efficient kerbside recycling services. This will support improved recycling for all packaging types, including glass.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 23 August 2021
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Current Status:
Answered by Lorna Slater on 20 September 2021
To ask the Scottish Government what the most recent baseline update is for (a) household and (b) commercial and industrial food waste arisings.
Answer
The most recent baseline data is contained within the 2016 Zero Waste Scotland report How Much Food is Wasted in Scotland? | Zero Waste Scotland . This report uses 2013 data and is broken down as follows:
- Household (solid and liquid waste) – 598,946 tonnes (60.6%)
- Food and drink manufacturing – 248,230 tonnes (25.1%)
- Other sectors – 140,714 tonnes (14.2%)
- The total of 987,890 tonnes covers all quantifiable food and drink waste in Scotland and provides a baseline for the Scottish Government’s flagship target to reduce all food waste arising in Scotland by 33% by 2025. Food losses incurred in primary production are currently excluded from the baseline figures. A Waste Composition Analysis, originally planned for 2021 but delayed due to Covid-19, is being carried out by Zero Waste Scotland this year and more detailed information will be available once that work concludes.
