Seòmar agus comataidhean

I am really pleased by that question because that has been on my mind, too. There are six provisions in the bill that look directly at moving up the hierarchy of reuse, and the bill is just one part of the larger strategic framework that will be described in the route map that I know you are all very keen to see, and which will shortly be published in draft form as part of the extended producer responsibility scheme.

There are six provisions that are directly related to reuse and they start at the beginning with strategy and targets. I have the bill in front of me and note that it specifically says that a circular economy is one in which

“the production and distribution of things are designed so as to reduce the consumption of materials”.

Reducing consumption of materials is the fundamental driver for the strategy and for the national targets. Setting out that strategy and looking at the high-level consumption of materials means implementing the waste hierarchy, which puts reuse near the top—less consumption, then reuse, then recycling and so on. That hierarchy would be embedded in the strategy. That is the overall principle.

The next provision that relates to reuse is the placing of restrictions on the disposal of unsold consumer goods. We have seen other countries put that in place. For example, in France, there is a ban on companies destroying clothes, cosmetics, hygiene products and electrical items. That would apply to both sold and unsold items. Some items are not even getting used at the moment and, in many cases, are going directly to landfill or incineration, so that provision would ensure that those items would be used in the first place, rather than being wasted.

The next provision that relates to reuse is on charges on single-use items. We have all seen how effective the charge on single-use plastic bags or bags in shops has been in driving the reuse of bags. We probably all have cupboards full of reusable bags that we take to the shops, or we keep them in the boots of our cars. That charge has driven reuse, which is the purpose of single-use charges. We intend to implement the first single-use charge on reusable coffee cups specifically to drive reuse by encouraging people to use reusable cups rather than disposable ones.

The next provision of the bill that we can use to drive things up the waste hierarchy is the code of practice. As I have said, that will be developed with councils under the Verity house agreement. I know from the committee’s earlier evidence session that councils are interested in looking at how they can improve reuse, and there are already some excellent examples of that within our councils.

The next provision that relates to that is the one on reporting waste and surplus. That provision was initially intended to cover food, but the reporting of waste and surplus in construction is a high priority for me. The public reporting of waste and surplus does two things. First, it makes the businesses that use those materials aware of what they are wasting and that it is not good for their bottom line, and it also makes them aware of the surpluses that they might have that might be of use to other people. Making records of those materials publicly available also means that other organisations and businesses can look at them, see that they are identified and then reuse them. As the member rightly highlighted, the construction industry is a key one in this case. When people dismantle or repair buildings, they can generate a lot of potentially reusable material, and it needs to be reported on so that people know that it is there and they can use it.

We need to develop the targets together with local authorities, which we have committed to doing.

Our islands impact assessment in relation to the bill highlights that there are significant opportunities for islands. In Kirkwall in Orkney, there is an excellent facility for reusing furniture, which is doing work in that circular economy space. There are opportunities in Orkney to move things up that waste hierarchy.

We commit to setting those targets in line with local authorities and taking the geographic impacts and so on into consideration. The national target is to meet those 60 per cent recycling rates, but Orkney will, of course, contribute only a very small amount to that overall. There needs to be some common sense when applying those targets.

That will need to be developed through the code of practice. I do not intend to impose an approach on councils; I intend to co-develop it with them. However, you are right. There are some really good international examples in that area. For example, the Scandinavian countries—not just within the countries, but across multiple countries—have standardised bin colours and labels so that, whether someone is at a train station, at home or at their place of work, the same colours are used for the same materials. We could aim for that if local authorities are interested in doing so.

Absolutely. We need to work with local authorities to set out what we want local authorities to deliver and what they are prepared to deliver, and then, of course, we need to set out how that investment will take place.

Do you want to come in, Janet?

I want to make clear that Douglas Lumsden is discussing two different provisions.

I will first cover section 11 on household waste requirements. It is already a criminal offence to not respond to a notice to desist from contaminating recycling. No new offence is being created there. The overall aim of the creation of a fixed-penalty notice for the offence is to give local authorities a more proportionate and civil offence route to go down, as opposed to the criminal sanctions, which are the only option right now. Local authorities already have an obligation to enforce that, but, obviously, criminal proceedings for contaminating recycling would be appropriate only in some pretty extreme circumstances. Having a fixed-penalty notice regime gives local authorities a much more proportionate response. Contamination of recyclate is a big problem for local authorities and is very costly for them, which means that having effective powers for dealing with that offence is helpful to them.

On the other matter, it is useful that we have Mr Fraser with us today, because the provision is similar to what he proposes in his member’s bill. The provision is about creating a new criminal offence relating to the householder’s duty of care. Householders already have a duty to ensure that their waste is dealt with properly and that it does not become part of a waste crime. Currently, however, although the person who tips the waste can be accused of a criminal offence, there is no offence associated with that for the householder.

The provision will put in place for Scotland a provision equivalent to that which already exists in England and Wales. It states that a householder can be charged with a fixed-penalty notice if the local authority

“has reason to believe that”

the householder has breached the duty of care and has not taken “reasonable steps” to ensure that the waste handler to whom they have given their waste is licensed.

Yes, convener. I have committed to revisiting the numbers in the financial memorandum that the FPAC highlighted to me.

Absolutely—you are exactly right. Measuring circularity in Scotland, never mind measuring circularity in different places around the world, is difficult. Monica Lennon is right that we should consider that. Exporting of our carbon footprint and our waste is not the goal. Our goal is to reduce consumption of materials overall, so that we reduce our impact here and globally. You are right that getting the detail on that is challenging, just as it is in developing specific targets, because this is all new and cutting edge.

No. We are looking at using the super-affirmative procedure for charging for single-use items.

I do not share the concern that companies will build different infrastructure just because we made them send their unused goods to charity—[Interruption.]—instead of to the incinerator—[Interruption.] That seems a bit extreme.

—such as hygiene products and clothing, get into the hands of the people who need them.