What on Earth 87

WHAT ON

EARTH FRIENDS OF THE EARTH SCOTLAND’S MEMBERS’ MAGAZINE

Issue 87 I Summer 2022

Can Scotland move to a Circular Economy?

Photo: Abir Abdullah / Climate Visuals Countdown

WHAT ON

H T R A E 0 Summer 2 Issue 87 I

Friends of the Earth Scotland is:

Photo: istockphoto.com

T L A N D’S RT H S C O F T H E E A GA Z IN E O S D N F R IE S’ MA MEMBER 22

> Scotland’s leading environmental campaigning organisation > An independent Scottish charity with a network of thousands of supporters and active local groups across Scotland > Part of the largest grassroots environmental network in the world, uniting over 2 million supporters, 73 national member groups and 5,000 local activist groups

Our vision is of a world where everyone can enjoy a healthy environment and a fair share of the earth’s resources.

Friends of the Earth Scotland is an independent Scottish charity SC003442 What on Earth is published by and copyright to: Friends of the Earth Scotland 5 Rose Street, Edinburgh EH2 2PR T: 0131 243 2700 E: info@foe.scot W: www.foe.scot Editor: Eilidh Stanners Design: Emma Quinn Cover image: istockphoto.com The views expressed in What on Earth are not necessarily those of Friends of the Earth Scotland.

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C O N T E N TS Directors’ view

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Take action now

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Scotland’s invisible consumption impact

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How one Edinburgh organisation is making circularity work in practice

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Circular economy in action around the world

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How Scotland can change its polluting past into a green future

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Clarissa Morawski talks to us about Deposit Return Schemes

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Scottish Government to ban new incinerators

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Get social with us: /foescotland /foescot /foescot

WHAT ON EARTH SUMMER 2022

Directors’ view

By Alice, Mary & Kerrigan, Interim Co-Directors

Welcome to the 87th edition of What on Earth featuring insightful articles focusing on the circular economy. Given that the vast majority of our climate emissions comes from our consumption of goods and services, the possibility of a more circular economy – one where we use, reuse and recycle materials that are already in the system – has the potential to transform the way we interact with so much of the world around us, for the good of both people and planet.

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the possibility of a more circular economy has the potential to transform the way we interact with so much of the world around us...

Our report, and this edition of What on Earth could not be more timely.

The Scottish Government has just launched a consultation, much delayed because of COVID-19, on its plans for legislation to create a circular economy.

The good news is that the proposals include scope for consumption-based targets – something we’ve pushed hard for – and we’ll continue to work to influence the final outcome over the coming months. You can make your voice heard by contacting the Government (more infomation on the next page) and chip into our appea to support this work in the enclosed letter.

We’re celebrating an important win with the Scottish Government commiting to a ban on new incinerators. We’ve also been working on the issue of scrap steel – an essential component of a sustainable and just economy in Scotland.

This edition features an interview with Chris Hellawell, founder of the rather wonderful Edinburgh Tool Library and highlights from our recently published report ‘Circular Economy in Action Around the World’. The report shares some best practice examples from around the globe including regenerative agriculture in Brazil and the Netherlands, which was the first country to set a circular economy goal and is aiming for a completely circular economy by 2050.

We hope you enjoy this edition of What on Earth. Thank you for your continued support and we hope you can make the most of the Scottish summer!

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Make your voice heard to help ensure the Scottish Government creates a strong circular economy law for Scotland, which will reduce our global footprint by reusing and recycling more materials throughout our economy.

The proposed circular economy law is an opportunity to create a new economic system – where the welfare of citizens is not linked to material consumption of the nation, taking greater responsibility for the social and environmental impact of taking from nature.

We’ve drafted an email to send to the Scottish Government, so if you’re short on time you can just hit send. But if you can, please edit the text to include your own ideas and experiences.

Take action now

Photo: istockphoto.com

www.act.foe.scot/circulareconomy

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Scotland’s invisible consumption impact

By Kim Pratt, Circular Economy Campaigner Scotland’s net zero targets are the driving force of our domestic climate policy. We must completely transform our energy and transport systems in order to cut our national emissions to zero by 2045. This is a huge and necessary task and, if successful, has the potential to greatly reduce Scotland’s environmental impact. However, there is a loophole in this plan which means Scotland is not taking responsibility for its true global climate change impact. This loophole threatens to undermine our efforts to decarbonise our society.

In our globalised economy, a product, like a mobile phone for example, might be designed in the USA, made with material from China, sold to consumers in Scotland and recycled in the EU. When each country only counts those emissions which occur within their geographic borders, the country where the materials were extracted, in this example, China, will be assigned the majority of the emissions associated with the mobile phone. Material extraction is the most carbon intensive stage of the life cycle of most products, but actions at other parts of the life cycle – design, consumption and disposal – have great potential to reduce the impact of the product as well.

In Scotland, the emissions from this material extraction happening overseas are invisible to us, so policy has focused on things like electricity use whichis included in our domestic targets.

In fact, over half (52%) of the greenhouse gas emissions from Scotland’s consumption come from goods and services imported from other countries – and there are no policies designed to reduce this. By ignoring the impact of imported goods, it is possible to meet our targets by buying more products from abroad, rather than cutting emissions in Scotland.

This problem is known as ‘carbon leakage’.

In addition, the extraction of resources to make imported goods, and the environmental and social damage which is caused by this, is not factored into our policy plans. Scotland’s climate policies do not give any thought at all to the materials required to make them happen.

The proposed circular economy law aims to reduce Scotland’s material consumption to sustainable levels.

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Producers must be made to design products to last longer.

There are now several examples of consumption-based goals being adopted into policy making. In 2022, Sweden became the first country to declare it will set consumption-based targets. The Netherlands

set a material-based target to become waste free by 2050. The European Parliament voted in 2021 to create science-based binding targets for material use and consumption footprinting.

Scotland’s material footprint was found to be double the sustainable limit when measured for the first time last year. The Circular Economy Bill is a timely opportunity for Scotland to change this.

Increasing recycling, reuse and repair can mean materials cycle around our economy for longer, reducing the need to extract new materials from nature. Producers must be made to design products to last longer. We need a circular economy in Scotland to ensure we reduce our global climate impact, not just our domestic one.

Photo: istockphoto.com

The solution is to make these materials and the greenhouse gas impacts associated with their extraction more visible. A Scottish target for reducing our global impact, as well as our domestic one, is the first step towards valuing these materials properly. The good news is that the Scottish Government is consulting on its proposal for new legislation to reduce Scotland’s material consumption to sustainable levels. That is why Friends of the Earth Scotland is calling for consumption targets for both the material we use and the carbon footprint associated with it at the heart of the proposed new circular economy law.

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How one Edinburgh organisation is making circularity work in practice

By Eilidh Stanners, Communications Officer

Edinburgh Tool Library works like a normal library but with tools instead of books. Borrowing and sharing things instead of buying them is a key way we can reduce our consumption, so I spoke to Chris Hellawell, its founder and director, to find out more about it.

Eilidh Stanners: For those of us new to tool libraries, can you explain how they work and why you decided to set one up?

Chris Hellawell: Tool libraries work exactly in the same way as book libraries, but we lend our members tools rather than books – although we

do have some great woodwork and DIY books too! For a small annual fee, members can access as many of our tools as they need for no extra cost.

Some tool libraries, like ours, also have workshops, so that members can make a mess, and learn to use bigger tools that they can’t take home. This also allows us to do outreach work making things with and for other community groups and charities, teaching skills and helping people feel good about learning new things and making changes to their homes, gardens and communities.

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We believe in access over excess.

I decided to set one up, because there wasn’t one in the UK, and it is such a great thing for a community to have access to, that I wanted my community to benefit. They are a way of adding wealth to a community without adding stuff, they empower people, they gently introduce the circular economy to people without being too soap-boxy, they save folks money, and they reduce the carbon footprint of a community We have saved our members over £1.5million and reduced their footprint by over 180 tonnes of carbon by sharing instead of buying since we opened in 2015. I can’t think why I wouldn’t set one up! Sharing is such a wonderful thing to do, and I think as soon as we become a certain age, we start to forget that.

ES: How do tool libraries help to fight waste and create a circular economy?

CH: Tool libraries are about maximising the usefulness of objects – in this case tools – that have already been made, and in their manufacture, have already created a carbon footprint. What we want to do is put these underutilised items in as many hands as possible, thus removing the need to create another, with a second carbon footprint.

We believe in access over excess.

Tool libraries are based almost entirely on donated tools from organisations or individuals – we are often taking tools that would otherwise be dumped. We put them into circulation, repair them when they need it, and make them last for as long as possible. Sharing is the most resource efficient way to use products, as it removes the need to create the carbon footprint in the first place.

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ES: You run workshops and classes at the tool library – is this an important part of the project for you?

CH: It’s really important – having access to tools is one thing, but it is important that people know how to use them, and have access to a safe space in which to learn.

We also promote the use of reclaimed timber too, and whenever possible will give things a second – or third, or fourth – life. We also think that we are ourselves a tool for our community – that we are a resource to be accessed and used by the community to be used for it’s own benefit.

ES: Are there any other initiatives you’ve been inspired by?

CH: Loads! In the UK, The Restart Project is an inspirational social enterprise who are repair heroes, and also have done a lot to push the Right to Repair campaign. We have a wonderful partnership with Music Broth who are based in Glasgow. They are a musical instrument library, and through our partnership, they are bringing instruments to our locations in Edinburgh once a month.

Further afield we are always in awe of some of our fellow tool libraries some of whom we have been fortunate enough to visit – The Station North Tool Library in Baltimore has amazing classes and a wonderful community around their library, The Toronto Tool Library has developed lots of other pop up sites trialling the lending of other types of lending, with a kitchen library, a library of things, and a maker space, and in Reykjavik, the Musasafn RVK Tool Library is doing some really interesting trials of locker style pick up locations.

ES: What are your most popular items to borrow?

CH: Power tools are amazing tools to make a job easier, but they are also really expensive, and often quite specialised, so we tend to lend out lots of them. We have one cordless drill that has been lent out 193 times now, nearly 4 years in total! But the most ‘popular’ are often the tools people don’t realise we have, so they love it when they discover they can borrow a 3D printer from us for a month at a time, or a bubble machine for their kids parties... for the grown ups to play with.

Built-in obsolescence is such a waste of money and resources...

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It’s a real melting pot that we are always adding ingredients to.

ES: Does a sharing approach to tools encourage investment in higher quality, longer lasting products?

CH: Absolutely. As we have grown, the quality of the tools in our inventory has improved. This is partly because we are receiving better donations, but also because the good quality ones last longer and are built to be fixed.

Sometimes we try to fix some “middle aisle” tools and discover the parts either aren’t available, or cost more than the tool. Built-in obsolescence is such a waste of money and resources, and it’s great that tool libraries can take away the biggest barrier to accessing high quality tools – the cost.

ES: What sort of jobs does a tool library create?

CH: We have such a diverse group of staff, who do so many things. There is lots of project management work and volunteer coordination, but equally we employ workshop managers who need to be skilled makers and great teachers. We have administrators and social media folks, as well as fundraisers and community outreach work.

In our volunteer force (we call them Tooligans) we have people helping with library service delivery, but also workshop facilitation, accountants, graphic designers, repairers and fixers. It’s a real melting pot that we are always adding ingredients to.

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ES: What advice would you give to someone looking to set up their own tool library?

CH: The big message is simple does not equal easy. We are seven years into our project and I still sometimes wonder when the world will realise we are making it up as we go along!

It’s been a slog, but it’s also the most amazing, fulfilling and important thing I’ve done in my life, and it’s really starting to feel like something big is happening, in Scotland particularly.

There is support out there now, so people need not make the mistakes we have.

ES: What could be done to encourage similar projects across Scotland?

CH: At COP26 there was a joint announcement from the Scottish Government and Zero Waste Scotland that they would fund the establishment of The Scottish Share and Repair Network.

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Circular Communities Scotland is now leading this network which started in March, and will support sharing libraries and repair cafes to establish and sustain their amazing work all across Scotland. Its target is to have 100 of these organisations across the country by the end of the three years of funding, and we look forward to helping the network in this goal.

You can find out more about the Edinburgh Tool Library by visiting www.edinburghtoollibrary.org.uk

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Circular economy in action around the world The proposed circular economy law is an opportunity for Scotland to show the true scale of its ambition and take action to reverse the environmental damage created by an economy based on growth and overconsumption.

We’ve taken a look at some of the exciting developments in circularity around the world, to consider how Scotland can use these as inspiration to create a sustainable and socially just future.

Amsterdam, Netherlands: Local Food Chains & Organic Waste Amsterdam’s city-wide strategy is focused on providing sustainable food in the city. Local consumption is key to achieving sustainable food systems because it shortens the distance between consumers and their food and improves local agricultural practices.

The city is aiming to halve food waste, increase locally grown produce, and reduce the environmental impact of food by switching the primary protein source from meat to vegetables. This will help fight climate change as well as creating local green jobs and creating more healthy food options.

It’s doing this with a combination of public education campaigns, waste infrastructure and financial support. It has provided public advertising space to encourage eating food with a low ecological footprint and buys locally grown food to stimulate production.

The increased production and consumption of local produce allows the city greater control over agricultural practices.

To improve the collection and processing of organic waste, it’s aiming to have separate kitchen and garden waste collections for the majority of households within this decade.

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Similar policies to promote local produce and encourage eating food that causes less environmental damage could be of real benefit in Scotland.

By working across the food chain, the hospitality industry and with residents through public education campaigns and waste infrastructure, Amsterdam city is tackling the impact of food in a holistic way that will change the way people consume food.

Scotland’s approach at the moment focuses on reducing food waste and improving collection, but misses out the important earlier stages of agriculture and production.

Similar policies to promote local produce and encourage eating food that causes less environmental damage could be of real benefit in Scotland.

Shenzhen, China: Electric Public Transport In 2017, the city of Shenzhen in China became the first city to electrify 100% of all public buses. Central to the city’s strategy is a rental scheme which encourages efficient use of materials and repairability. Over 16,000 e-buses and 23,000 e-taxis are now provided

for the citizens of Shenzhen, replacing fossil-fuel vehicles and cutting air pollution sources by 20%. Additionally, the 5,100 bus charging points in Shenzhen indicate the infrastructural development required to sustain an electric public transport system.

As well as reducing the emissions from using vehicles, the scheme integrates principles of the circular economy into its design meaning materials are used more effectively too.

National government and city government subsidies for bus manufacturers can reduce the price of e-buses by around £100,000 each. An eight-year rental scheme for e-buses allows bus operating companies to implement the electric vehicles even if they can’t afford to purchase a vehicle. Manufacturers are responsible for repair and maintenance during this rental period, encouraging circular product design for durability and opportunities for remanufacturing. The city is currently exploring options for technology that enables vehicle battery recovery and wider use for transport vehicles.

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It is expected that the costs will subside as the industry expands. The implementation of e-vehicles in Shenzhen has expanded the industry to a worth of around £11 billion, exporting e-buses to 300 cities globally.

In Scotland, the SNP has promised to remove the majority of fossil fuel buses from public transport by 2023, but if they’re going to meet this, further infrastructural changes will need to occur. Like the Shenzhen approach, the material aspects of these changes, such as sourcing of materials, repair and battery recovery, must be considered alongside the need for new vehicles and infrastructure to ensure they are sustainable.

In the transition to electric transport, Scotland’s strategy may learn from Shenzhen’s approach in which bus operators can rent electric vehicles to ease the financial burden of transitioning and incentivise circular vehicle design.

Ireland: Textile Action Group The textiles and clothing industries rely on vast resources for production, and direct more than half of global fast fashion quantities to landfill each year. The production of textiles for the global market often ignores the waste and environmental impacts of production practices.

In approaching the textile industry, Ireland has established the Textile Action Group that focuses exclusively on options for circularity in textiles. It explores how Ireland can capitalise on the textiles present, options for reuse and recycling and the potential for Extended Producer Responsibility schemes for textiles.

Ireland’s textile approach prioritises the global impacts of international textile trade and promotes eco-design amongst local designers and retailers.

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Further measures the Textile Action Group is using to improve textile circularity include: > Prohibiting the disposal of textiles in general waste bins, landfill and incineration > Supporting local designers and retailers in developing eco-design for clothing and textiles > Implementing a textiles education and awareness campaign > Developing proposals for separate textile waste collection > Reviewing regulation of textile collection points > Exploring the impacts of levies and other economic instruments on fast fashion textiles to reduce the cost differences for local producers and supporting local designers.

In the UK, a 2017 report found that every year around 300,000 tonnes of clothing is sent to landfill. While Scotland’s 2016 ‘Making Things Last’ strategy has no specific targets for textiles, it is a fast developing area of interest, with a huge global environmental and social impact.

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Scotland's circular economy legislation should prioritise increasing textile reuse and recycling.

Ireland’s exploration of economic instruments such as levies on fast fashion is a step towards tackling the impacts of the global fashion industry and trade that could be considered here too, along with the commitment to separate textile waste.

We’ve published a report which looks into many more case studies across the food system, built environment, transport, textiles, electronics and more. It also compares Scotland’s progress across these areas, and identifies areas that are missing in the current strategy.

What’s clear is that there are endless opportunities for innovation, and circular principles need to be at the forefront ofall industries as we transform our economy for the better.

The full report, written by Sarah Hunter and Kim Pratt, can be found at www.foe.scot/circulareconomyinaction

Photo: istockphoto.com

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How Scotland can change its polluting past into a green future

By Kim Pratt, Circular Economy Campaigner Photo: istockphoto.com

When we think about overconsumption, images of individual consumers struggling with products designed to be thrown away often come to mind: filling our bins with the single-use plastic or buying a cheap new phone rather than get a current one repaired.

But some of the industries that will make the biggest difference to reducing our consumption are less visible to us.

Steel is a vital part of our economy today and it will continue to be in the future.

The replacement of oil and gas with renewables is at the heart of plans for an energy revolution in Scotland.

By 2030, one million tonnes of material, the vast majority of this high-quality scrap steel, will be available from oil and gas

decommissioning. This could be reused as the building blocks needed for new wind turbines. How can we ensure such materials are fed back into the economy as much as possible?

Policy makers and industry are waking up to the idea that this change can be used to create not just the green energy we need for a sustainable future, but an integrated and circular system of material use as well.

We could keep valuable scrap steel in Scotland, reusing the fossil fuel infrastructure of the past to create the renewable energy infrastructure needed for our new economy.

The environmental and social benefits could be huge.

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Today, all of Scotland’s scrap steel is exported for recycling, sometimes to the rest of the UK but also further afield, to countries like Turkey and China, where coal is used to process the steel. Even in the UK, 80% of steel is processed in coal-fuelled blast furnaces.

We are missing out on a huge opportunity to piece together the two ends of the energy transition.

The lowest carbon way to process steel is with an electric arc furnace, which melts the metal using electrical power rather than coal. Last year in Sweden, the world’s first green steel was made with an electric arc furnace powered by renewable energy and hydrogen.

A Scottish steel mill could take high quality scrap steel from decommissioned oil and gas rigs and pipelines and melt it into wind turbine infrastructure using green electricity, rather than coal. With a modern electric arc furnace steel mill, Scotland could control

Photo: Goodwin Steel Castings

In 2018, every tonne of steel produced emitted on average 1.85 tonnes of greenhouse gases and total production accounted for about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

A recent study by Zero Waste Scotland found that creating a circular steel hub in Scotland could save 60% of carbon emissions compared to the way scrap steel is currently managed.

its own material consumption. By building an integrated system in Scotland, we can reduce emissions, create decent green jobs and set a truly circular example for the rest of our economy.

Scotland has the materials, skills and demand to make this circular narrative a reality. The creation of a complex and integrated system will require a government willing to take bold steps towards a circular economy. That is why Friends of the Earth Scotland is calling for the Scottish Government to create a circular economy strategy for steel.

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By Kim Pratt, Circular Economy Campaigner There are plans to introduce a Deposit Return Scheme to Scotland in August 2023, which means that people will pay a 20p deposit when they buy a drink in a single-use container made of plastic, metal or glass.

Scotland’s scheme, which will be the first of its kind in the UK, follows a long tradition of Deposit Return Schemes from around the world. These schemes are extremely successful, raising recycling rates to over 90% and reducing litter dramatically. By ensuring producers take responsibility for the proper disposal of their products, Deposit Return Schemes can form a central part of a circular economy in Scotland.

I met with Clarissa Morawski, CEO of Reloop, an international organisation with expertise in working with governments, industry and NGOs to implement Deposit Return Schemes.

Kim Pratt: Why are Deposit Return Schemes so important in the context of the climate and nature emergency?

Clarissa Morawski: Deposit return systems have a direct impact on climate because they create a guaranteed source of high-quality material for recycling bottles back into bottles, and cans back into cans. This means there is less demand for gathering new raw materials, and therefore our carbon emissions are reduced. In Spain, for example, if recycling performance there moved from its current rate of 37% towards achieving 90% by 2029, emissions reductions of over 760 kilo tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent could be achieved. Zero Waste Scotland estimates that Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme will reduce emissions by around 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over 25 years.

Photo: Abir Abdullah / Climate Visuals Countdown

Clarissa Morawski talks to us about Deposit Return Schemes

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Proper penalties are key to ensuring industry participation.

KP: Has the journey in Scotland been a typical Deposit Return Scheme journey compared to other similar countries?

CM: The introduction of deposit return in Scotland has taken a lot longer than it does in most places around the world. Both Slovakia and Latvia, for example, have new deposit return systems that went live at the start of this year, having both introduced legislation in the autumn of 2019. Scotland finalised its legislation just a few months after these countries, but the system’s start date has already been delayed twice and is now not due to start for more than a year.

The European Court of Justice has stated that 12 months is sufficient time to implement a Deposit Return Scheme. It seems, unfortunately, that political decision makers are bowing to industry pressure to slow things down, or even stop it from happening entirely.

We certainly hope to be proven wrong!

KP: To reduce the overconsumption which is driving a major part of the twin climate and nature emergencies, what do you think needs to happen next beyond the Deposit Return Scheme?

CM: In addition to beverage containers, governments still need to collect more, and sort more. We need proper household collection systems that are highly efficient, that collect and use sorting technology so that everything isn’t sent to an incinerator.

We need to get that material back into the brand owner's hands, so they can make their products from recycled materials and stop digging into the ground for more resources.

Governments and industry need to make investments in collecting and sorting technology, because without that we can’t make more products from recycled material.

Photo: istockphoto.com

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KP: If you had five minutes with the government what would be your key message?

So decision makers just need to be bold and recognise that the government has a role to set recycling targets and enforce meaningful penalties. Proper penalties are key to ensuring industry participation.

You can find out more about Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme on the Have You Got the Bottle? website: www.haveyougotthebottle.org.uk.

Have you Got the Bottle is a coalition of Scottish NGOs, including Friends of the Earth Scotland, supporting the introduction of a successful Deposit Return Scheme in Scotland.

Photo: istockphoto.com

CM: One thing I can tell you is that the industry has really strong lobbyists and some industries, whether right or wrong, are going to fight against Deposit Return Schemes. What we've seen is that once these systems are introduced properly, that opposition just completely disappears. Producers in Norway and Sweden absolutely love their Deposit Return Scheme programs. Germany is the most complex system in the world. And even then, they still like it because it's getting 98% back sales have not been impacted because of the deposit.

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Scottish Government to ban new incinerators

By Eilidh Stanners, Communications Officer In June, we welcomed some progress on the way waste is managed in Scotland: the Scottish Government committed to banning new incinerators, after the move was called for by an independent review.

Incinerators contribute to climate change by emitting greenhouse gases from the waste they burn. They also make it more difficult to ensure potentially recyclable material is not wasted instead.

The independent review published a report on 10 May which showed the real scale of the nation’s incineration problem. It showed

the need for rapid action to prevent the loss of valuable resources, and stop the climate-wrecking emissions being caused by burning plastics. Burning plastic releases more carbon than coal, and the only way to cut emissions from incineration for good is to stop burning waste.

The total amount of waste incinerated in Scotland in 2019 was 1.23 megatonnes (that’s a billion kilograms!), double the amount in 2011. The capacity analysis from the report shows that in five years time Scotland will have more incineration capacity than there is available waste to burn.

Photo: Simone Tramonte / Climate Visuals Countdown

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The review made 12 policy recommendations for the Scottish Government, local authorities and wider waste industry. It made it clear that along with the ban, more must be done to minimise waste and improve recycling, and that we need to phase out the incinerators that are already operational too if Scotland is to meet its climate goals.

This is still to be acted on by the Scottish Government.

The ban is a fantastic step in stopping incineration in Scotland, and it wouldn’t have been possible without so many of you contacting the review to let them know your views – over 1,000 people emailed Colin Church, who led the review, to call for this ban.

In March while the review was ongoing, Viridor – one of the UK’s biggest waste management companies – cancelled plans to build what would have been Scotland’s largest incinerator, signalling that even large waste management companies know that time is up for incineration in Scotland. The Overwood incinerator could have burned 330,000 tonnes of rubbish and would have led to a substantial rise in vehicles on the road in the area and subsequently a rise in air and noise pollution too, but community resistance helped stop it.

Dovesdale Action Group led the local campaign against the project, blocking earlier plans for a similar incinerator nearby and leading the huge community response opposing the Overwood plant.

This is a fantastic step in stopping incineration in Scotland, and it wouldn’t have been possible without so many of you contacting the review to let them know your views.

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John Young, from the Dovesdale Action Group, said: “The announcement by Viridor to withdraw their proposal for the largest incinerator in Scotland is testament to the strength of the campaign here in South Lanarkshire to protect our communities from the impact it would have had on our rural landscape, public health, the environment and climate change.”

Scotland is joining Wales, wchich banned incineration in 2021. It now has the third highest recycling rates in the world. In Scotland, recycling rates have slowed and even reversed in recent years.

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In 2019, Scotland’s household recycling rate was 44.9% – a long way off the target for 70% of material to be recycled by 2025.

Moving away from incineration will make it easier to reverse this backwards trend.

We need to value resources properly, rather than taking from nature, using once then burning or burying the waste. This is a significant step in the right direction.

Find out more about incineration in Scotland at www.foe.scot/incineration

Photo: Andrew Testa / Panos Pictures

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