Scotland consults on tackling litter problem

Scotland’s Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead yesterday (3 July), opened two linked consultations aimed at tackling the problem of land and marine litter ‘head-on’.

According to the Scottish Government, the consultations were developed to produce a National Litter Strategy to ‘help end Scotland’s litter blight’ and create ‘cleaner communities and coastlines’.

More than half of population admit to dropping litter

The need for a National Litter Strategy was brought about after research undertaken by Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) revealed that the Scottish Government spent more than £78 million a year on tackling litter.

The ‘Scotland’s Litter Problem: the scale and cost of litter and flytipping’ report found that more than half the population admitted to dropping litter. This reportedly costs the Scottish Government £53 million to clear up and a further £25 million through its effect on a range of related issues including crime, health and reduced property values.  

Further, it was also found that 250 million individual items of litter are cleared up each year, of which 125 million could have been recycled to a value of £1.2 million.

In addition, the research showed that 26,000 tonnes of waste is dumped illegally in flytipping activity, and that the global issue of marine litter, which threatens Scotland’s coastlines and wildlife, costs over £16 million a year to deal with.

The Scottish Government is now calling on stakeholders to submit their thoughts on a range of proposals to tackle the litter issues in two separate strategies: the ‘Towards a Litter Free Scotland’ strategy, and the ‘Marine Litter Strategy’.

Both consultations will run until 27 September, with a final National Litter Strategy set for launch in ‘early 2014’.

Towards a Litter Free Scotland

The ‘Towards a Litter Free Scotland’ draft strategy includes:

• measures to improve communications about the litter;
• proposals to increase litter fixed penalty fines from £50 to £80 for litter, and £200 for flytipping, and introducing prompt payment incentives; and
• suggestions to increase recycling opportunities in public places.

The Scottish Government will also develop a ‘strategic vision, mission, values and objectives’ as part of a National Litter Strategy. The proposed text for this vision is: ‘To meet people’s need to dispose of waste responsibly, delivering a significant reduction in the amount of litter and flytipping between now and 2020, which supports cleaner, safer communities throughout Scotland.’

Stakeholders are asked to respond to the proposals listed in the consultation, which include:

• working with producers to design commonly-littered waste out of products and packaging;
• increasing recycling facilities within in busy public places;
• improving guidance for litter practitioners to ‘help them deliver their responsibilities most effectively’; and
• developing educational resources to help develop long-term attitudes to disposing of waste responsibly

Commenting on the consultation, Iain Gulland, Director of Zero Waste Scotland, said: “We welcome this consultation bringing a renewed impetus to efforts to tackle litter and flytipping. We particularly welcome the focus on litter prevention given the cost of clean-up to the public purse.

“Littered materials could be worth more than £1 million to Scotland if they were recycled instead. We need to stop thinking of the things we discard as waste and instead treat them as resources which could benefit our economy and this can bring a new perspective to the litter debate.”

Draft Marine Litter Strategy

The ‘Draft Marine Litter Strategy’ also advocates better education about and awareness of litter, with the aim of:

• reducing the amount of litter entering the marine environment from land; and
• ‘seizing opportunities and economic growth’ by using waste as a ‘resource’.

The proposed vision for the draft Marine Litter Strategy is: ‘By 2020 marine litter in Scotland is reduced and does not pose significant risks to the environment or communities. This is achieved within a zero waste Scotland where people and businesses act responsibly, and reduce, reuse, recycle and recover waste resources.’

Stakeholders are asked to submit their thoughts on a variety of proposals, which include:

• encouraging producers to change manufacturing design of products commonly found in the marine environment i.e finding ‘alternatives to plastic in cotton bud sticks’;
• incorporating marine litter reduction into regional marine plans under the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010;
• seeking investment for environmental and clean technologies that ‘facilitate recovery, recycling, and environmental monitoring in coastal and maritime industries’;
• incentivising recycling and correct disposal through waste as resource initiatives, such as ‘Recycle and Reward’ pilots; and
• developing or testing standardised monitoring approaches, to allow comparisons at the National and EU scales.

Speaking of the Marine Litter Strategy, Anne Saunders, Scottish Projects Officer from the Marine Conservation Society, said: “A strategy is essential for the coordination of effort to tackle this ever-increasing problem of marine litter which affects the environment, wildlife, industry and tourism, and to meet international commitments.

“We are very pleased that the Scottish Government has taken this bold step toward litter-free seas, setting a good example to the rest of the UK. We want to see a robust strategy that results in the halving of litter on Scotland’s beaches by 2020.”

Read more about the ‘Towards a Litter Free Scotland’ and the ‘Marine Litter Strategy’.