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This information is not held centrally.

Some data are available for Revolve certified organisations. Revolve is Scotland’s National Reuse Quality Standard and Revolve stores are supported to work to key standards, and are committed to quality.

In 2018-19 sales through Revolve certified community stores reported to Zero Waste Scotland were circa £34 million. There were over 780 full time staff employed and 192,590 volunteer hours from 1,406 volunteers recorded in those same organisations, and approximately 35,000 tonnes of material was estimated to be diverted from landfill.

The Scottish Government through Zero Waste Scotland has supported the piloting of three re-use hubs (Blythswood Dingwall in 2015, The Edinburgh Remakery in 2016, and Restyle Argyll in 2017). These hubs were a collaborative approach to re-use and all are still in operation. All three have also received support through the Revolve certification programme including training, retail and standards support.

Information on material capture rates for reuse is not held centrally. However, for example, The Edinburgh Remakery reported reuse figures of 17 tonnes of household furniture and 8 tonnes of IT equipment in 2018-19.

No detailed analysis of the impact on running costs for landfill operators to provide capacity for biodegradable waste after 2021 has been carried out. However, we engaged widely with stakeholders, including landfill operators and trade associations, before extending the deadline on the ban on municipal waste to landfill from 2021 to 2025, and no concerns around the costs of providing capacity were raised.

Funding for community initiatives mainly comes through support from Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS). This includes five Zero Waste Town projects between 2014 and 2020, each receiving £300,000 to pilot place-based approaches to furthering circular economy initiatives at a local level. Zero Waste Dunbar’s re-use pilot, which saw them diverting good quality items directly from recycling centres to a local store, proved so successful they now operate from recycling centres throughout East Lothian and have large re-use superstores in Dunbar, Musselburgh and Edinburgh.

ZWS’s Circular Economy Business support service has worked with over 200 companies, including a number of community organisations, to help them explore more circular ways of doing business. Further details and case study examples can be found here: https://ceaccelerator.zerowastescotland.org.uk/services-tools/business-support-service/

The Circular Economy Investment Fund has provided grants to over 50 companies, including a number of community organisations. A list of the companies and projects funded is available on the Zero Waste Scotland website: https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/content/circular-economy-investment-fund-past-projects

Finally, the Revolve network currently has 137 certified sites from 61 organisations across Scotland, many of which are community based. A wide range of support is available to the Revolve network through Zero Waste Scotland, including training & advice on standards, operational improvements, visual merchandising & customer service, branding & campaign materials. Further details can be found here: https://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/revolve#

Other funding includes the Climate Challenge Fund which has provided a wide range of support to community initiatives linked to the circular economy. Details of projects are available here: https://www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/sustainability-climate-change/climate-challenge-fund/ccf-in-action/funded-projects-map/

Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS), as the Scottish Government’s circular economy delivery partner, has supported a number of relevant YoungScot initiatives:

Homeworking from the onset of the pandemic has been and continues to be part of our wider public health response. By working from home, workers and employers are playing a vital role in helping suppress the virus, and in ensuring that our transport network remains safe.

We know that the vast majority of employers are complying with current homeworking guidance on a voluntary basis and we will continue to monitor this. As we have seen a worrying rise in the rate of transmission over the past few weeks we are considering options for placing a legal duty on employers to allow homeworking where it is possible. The introduction of any such duty would be on the basis of public health advice.

We must continue to limit the opportunity for the virus to spread and one of those measures is the continuation of homeworking.

We do not underestimate the significant impact this pandemic has had on Scotland’s tourism sector, both outbound and inbound.

We are engaging with the sector in order to better understand the challenges faced by the outbound travel industry, and will continue to do so in order to help support those businesses.

Throughout these unprecedented conditions we have listened closely to businesses and acted quickly to provide appropriate support. The total package now exceeds £2.3 billion, more than £40.5m of which has been awarded to businesses in the tourism and hospitality sectors through targeted funds. We are committed to doing everything in our power to support the tourism sector and will continue to listen to its needs as the situation progresses.

The report of the Tourism Recovery Taskforce, due to be published imminently, will provide a series of recommendations for both the Scottish and UK Governments to consider to support the industry.

The Scottish Government has worked closely with businesses, including those in our night-time economy, to understand their issues and provide appropriate assistance and guidance on reopening. As part of this, Tourism Secretary Fergus Ewing met with Glasgow’s Night-time Economy Commission on 18 June to discuss their ongoing concerns and proposed support measures.

Our total package of support now totals over £2.3 billion. This includes almost £900 million of non-domestic rates relief, a £1.3 billion business grants scheme and a £145 million package of targeted support for SMEs and the self-employed. However, we recognise that some sectors have struggled to access support, or are still not permitted to open, and we have therefore launched two new funds to offer that support where it is needed.

Eligible nightclub operators can apply for a share of a £15 million Culture Organisations and Venues Recovery Fund, which is being administered by Creative Scotland, applications for which opened on 17 September. Businesses in the events industry have also been able to apply to VisitScotland for grants from a £6m fund where they could demonstrate events in Scotland are their primary source of income and they have not received any other Government Covid funding.

We continue to do everything in our power to support the tourism and hospitality industry, however without significant borrowing powers at our disposal this action will always be limited, and so we will also continue to press the UK Government to address ongoing impacts.

Previous analyses of the composition of household municipal waste were undertaken in 2009 and 2014-15. Zero Waste Scotland had planned to undertake a further analysis in 2020 but this has been delayed due to COVID-19. Fieldwork for this analysis is now expected to begin in Spring 2021, and publication of the full results is expected in 2022.

I announced on 3 September an initial £4 million funding in financial year 2021-22 towards the establishment of a national "Tech Scaler" network, one of Mr Logan’s key recommendations, which will provide incubation space while also delivering the best available mentoring and training for our company founders.