- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 21 September 2020
Submitting member has a registered interest.
-
Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 October 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the priorities set out in Making Things Last: a circular economy strategy for Scotland, whether it will provide a breakdown of collaborative industry-higher education projects funded by the Scottish Institute for Remanufacture since 2014.
Answer
The Scottish Institute for Remanufacturing (SIR) officially launched on 21 January 2015. Since 2015, SIR has funded 40 collaborative projects between industry and higher education institutions, at a value of over £800,000 with several projects still in progress. Currently 20 of these are available in case-study format on the SIR website at: https://www.scot-reman.ac.uk/category/case-study/ . Other case studies will be published as projects are completed.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 21 September 2020
Submitting member has a registered interest.
-
Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 October 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the priorities set out in Making Things Last: a circular economy strategy for Scotland, which EU policy decisions on product and packaging design it has influenced toward a life-cycle approach since 2016.
Answer
Through regular dialogue and engagement at UK level, Scottish Ministers worked to ensure the UK position taken forward to EU negotiations properly reflected Scottish priorities, including in relation to the delivery of a more circular economy.
The Scottish Government supports those regulatory changes introduced by the EU to protect our finite natural resources and improve the way we manage products at end of life. On 3 September, I met with Virginijus Sinkevicius, European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, to discuss a number of matters including the EU Circular Economy Action Plan and forthcoming legislative agenda.
We also carry out engagement through Zero Waste Scotland including providing evidence from the Scottish context, policy research into circular products and packaging design, and contributing to relevant European fora.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 21 September 2020
Submitting member has a registered interest.
-
Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 October 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the priorities set out in Making Things Last: a circular economy strategy for Scotland, whether it will provide a breakdown of medical devices that it has certified for reuse in the NHS since 2016.
Answer
The information requested is not centrally held by Scottish Government. NHS boards may hold limited information within their Medical Equipment Management Databases. Decommissioning of medical devices and equipment is carried out in line with guidance given in the Section - Decommissioning, Recycling and Disposal of the Guidance on Management of Medical Devices and Equipment in Scotland’s Health and Social Care Services (National Services Scotland 2020) [ http://www.hfs.scot.nhs.uk/publications-/guidance-publications/?show=50&set=1 ] paras 6.128 to 6.147. This includes considering the ethical and sustainable donation of surplus clinically useful medical devices and equipment, as part of the NHS Scotland Global Citizenship Programme or alternatively ethical disposal in line with Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 21 September 2020
Submitting member has a registered interest.
-
Current Status:
Answered by Ben Macpherson on 2 October 2020
To ask the Scottish Government how much peat has been purchased through public sector procurement contracts in each of the last five years.
Answer
The Scottish Government has reviewed its records and found no instances of peat having been purchased by the Scottish Government in the last five years. The Scottish Government is unable to answer on behalf of other public sector organisations. However, the Public Contracts Scotland website (at w ww.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk ) provides the means to search the public record of contracts awarded by all Scottish public sector organisations.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 21 September 2020
Submitting member has a registered interest.
-
Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 October 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the priorities set out in Making Things Last: a circular economy strategy for Scotland, whether it will provide a breakdown of the (a) quantity, (b) location and (c) current status of local biorefining hubs that have been set up in each year since 2016.
Answer
This information is not held centrally. Zero Waste Scotland has focused on identifying the potential for establishing biorefining hubs in Scotland that could transform a range of materials. In 2017, a research study was undertaken by Zero Waste Scotland to understand the bioresource arisings and availability for biorefining in Scotland:
https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/sites/default/files/Biorefining%
20Potential%20for%20Scotland%20Final%20report.pdf
The findings of this study have been used by Zero Waste Scotland, the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre and Scottish Enterprise to help inform a number of businesses on the potential to establish biorefining facilities in Scotland. Several businesses have benefitted through this information and are progressing plans to develop facilities in Scotland.
The Biorefinery Roadmap for Scotland – Building a Sustainable Future sets out Scottish Enterprise’s approach to the sector: https://www.sdi.co.uk/media/2092/biorefinery-roadmap-for-scotland-building-a-sustainable-future.pdf .
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Thursday, 24 September 2020
-
Current Status:
Answered by Jeane Freeman on 2 October 2020
To ask the Scottish Government what criteria it has established to determine whether people previously shielding should resume doing so.
Answer
We know that shielding can have a detrimental impact on people’s lives, families and physical and mental wellbeing. Protecting people who are at the highest risk from COVID-19 is a priority for the Scottish Government. At this time we do not believe that asking people to return to shielding is the best way to protect them. The best way to do so is to reduce the spread of the virus in our communities. We have introduced new measures which must be followed by everyone in society.
Our clinical advisers continue to keep the shielding advice under consideration and any changes will be influenced by many factors such as the range of emerging evidence and the progress of the pandemic in Scotland.
Scottish Ministers will continue to take an evidence-based approach. We continue to engage with the UK Government and other devolved administrations to ensure that we learn from emerging evidence and the measures taken in other parts of Europe and around the world.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 21 September 2020
Submitting member has a registered interest.
-
Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 October 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the priorities set out in Making Things Last: a circular economy strategy for Scotland, whether it will provide a breakdown for each year since 2016 of remanufactured products that the Scottish Institute for Remanufacture has successfully lobbied the EU standards and certification organisations and other relevant bodies to ensure that they are recognised as comparable or equivalent to new products.
Answer
The Scottish Institute for Manufacturing (SIR) does not regularly lobby bodies or organisations. The key purpose of the SIR is to play a pivotal role in transitioning to a circular economy within the remanufacturing sector by stimulating and funding innovation, supporting companies to exploit opportunities, and by growing capabilities, capacity and profitability within remanufacturing in Scotland.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 21 September 2020
Submitting member has a registered interest.
-
Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 October 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the priorities set out in Making Things Last: a circular economy strategy for Scotland, how many teaching "champions" for the circular economy (a) have been recruited since 2016 and (b) are currently active, and how many learning resources they have developed and deployed to classrooms.
Answer
Since 2016, a range of multi-media learning resources have been created by Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) working with over 20 partners. These circular economy education resources and packs have been downloaded over 10,000 times.
ZWS has also trained teachers to champion the circular economy in schools. For example, in the last 3 years 38 teachers have completed the Food Nation General Teaching Council accredited programme.
Through work with Education Scotland ZWS is currently working with over 25 Raising Aspirations in Science Education (RAiSE)/science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) officers and 6 teachers from Angus schools to develop and share resources in schools nationally to champion circular economy education.
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 21 September 2020
Submitting member has a registered interest.
-
Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 October 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the priorities set out in Making Things Last: a circular economy strategy for Scotland, what changes it has made to public procurement practice since 2016 to improve reuse, repair and remanufacturing, and what effects those changes have had on the quantity of material reused, repaired and remanufactured in Scotland.
Answer
While we do not hold data centrally on circular economy approaches in public procurement activity, procurement legislation has required public bodies to consider and act on opportunities to improve environmental impact of procurement activity since 2016 and we are aware of a number of instances where reuse and remanufacture form part of what is measured as part of contract management.
For example, the Scottish Government National framework for the supply of desktop and laptop computers requires that all devices meet the Green Electronics Council’s Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool accreditation standards which are designed to reduce the environmental impact of devices across their lifecycle:
https://www.epa.gov/greenerproducts/electronic-product-environmental-assessment-tool-epeat#:~:text=EPEAT%2Dregistered%20products%20must%20meet,life%20management%
20and%20corporate%20performance .
Framework suppliers are required to manage and reduce waste in accordance with the waste hierarchy including minimising the use and environmental impact of packaging. Between July 2019 and July 2020 our national framework for supplier of desktop and laptop computers, have recycled 3,500 devices, refurbished 1,270 devices and recycled around 22 tonnes of packaging.
Sustainable procurement tools and guidance are updated on an ongoing basis in response to policy developments and emerging good practice and so it is not possible to identify all the changes that have been made since 2016. The guidance and tools are available online: www.sustainableprocurementtools.scot .
- Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Monday, 21 September 2020
Submitting member has a registered interest.
-
Current Status:
Answered by Roseanna Cunningham on 2 October 2020
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the priorities set out in Making Things Last: a circular economy strategy for Scotland, what quantity of biorefinery feedstocks has come from (a) sustainable and (b) food and feed supply sources in each year since 2016.
Answer
This information is not held centrally. Zero Waste Scotland has been working with the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre, Scottish Enterprise and wider stakeholders to map and understand the resources and potential feedstocks for biorefining in Scotland, this work has focussed on waste and by-product materials.
The Biorefining Potential for Scotland report 2017 mapped resources which arise and which may be available in terms of quantities, location and origin which has allowed businesses to access sample materials for small scale trials ( https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/sites/default/files/Biorefining%
20Potential%20for%20Scotland%20Final%20report.pdf ). Zero Waste Scotland are supporting a number of companies to progress to larger scale and demonstration facilities.
The Biorefinery Roadmap for Scotland – Building a Sustainable Future sets out Scottish Enterprise’s approach to the sector: https://www.sdi.co.uk/media/2092/biorefinery-roadmap-for-scotland-building-a-sustainable-future.pdf .