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A contextual messaging toolkit has been developed based on behavioural insights research Public Perceptions and Concerns Around Litter carried published in 2015. The litter toolkit cost £120,000 and helps to provide effective context-specific and local communication messages.

A grant fund was available to organisations to bid in to use the toolkit in situ, a total of 9 organisations received funding across Falkirk, Edinburgh, Highland, North Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Argyll and Bute. A total of £43,000 was awarded to the 9 funding recipients. We do not hold longitudinal data that would allow us to accurately represent what the reduction in litter frequency/volume has been as a result of the local messaging.

The Social Housing Net Zero Heat Fund was opened for applications on 21 August 2020 with the closing date for applications on 18 December 2020, with funding awards being made in January 2021. As of 9 November 2020, there have been no applications submitted or approved, but please note that we would not expect there to be in receipt of a substantive number of applications at this stage with over a month left for organisations to apply.

We have received considerable interest in the fund, with over 50 enquiries from Registered Social Landlords, Local Authorities and Energy Supply Companies.

Information webinars and application support continue to be provided throughout the application window and we anticipate receiving a high number of applications for low carbon social housing projects.

A number of relevant projects in remote areas have been funded through the following funds:

• Litter and Flytipping Community Action Fund 2014-2015
• Flytipping Small Grants Scheme 2011-2013
• Recycle on The Go Infrastructure Fund

In addition, Zero Waste Scotland are the lead for flytipping on the Scottish Partnership Against Rural Crime, which includes inputting to regional partnerships against rural crime (PARCs) that focus on flytipping prevention.

Zero Waste Scotland published a qualitative report in 2015 that sought to understand both perceptions of litter and attitudes towards litter to help inform and shape key behavioural interventions. Additionally, a short survey of public attitudes and behaviours in relation to litter and flytipping was commissioned in 2016 and the annual Scottish Household Survey provides a snapshot of public attitudes to littering in local areas.

Zero Waste Scotland has provided additional guidance through communications, Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse engagement and litter prevention action plans to help support stakeholders to minimise the impact of litter escaping from bins or vehicles.

Through funding supplied to stakeholders, 4,254 Recycle on the Go bins were installed across 22 local authority areas between 2011-2016, providing an estimated 600,000 litres of capacity.

An analysis suggests that the 3,095 bins (450,000 litres of capacity) installed during 2011-2013 collected between 1,300 and 1,900 tonnes per year.

The following table provides a summary of the number of calls received by the SEPA Call Centre Dumb Dumpers Hotline

A recent report by Zero Waste Scotland suggests that the greenhouse gas emissions from the incineration of residual waste at Scottish energy from waste plants are on average lower than landfilling the same waste. That being said, in terms of environmental impact prevention, reuse and recycling are always preferable over energy recovery or disposal of waste as waste management options.

The most recent statistics shows that carbon emissions associated with Scotland’s household waste in 2019 dropped once again on the previous year to reach the lowest level since official recording began. These statistics are available here: https://www.sepa.org.uk/environment/waste/waste-data/waste-data-reporting/

Energy from waste facilities (EfW) are already required to report energy generation to SEPA on an annual basis. Permits issued by SEPA to EfW plants require each facility to produce a Heat and Power Plan and report annual progress to SEPA each year. This report includes information on energy generation in the previous year and progress towards meeting heat use targets.

Prevention, reuse and recycling are always preferable waste management options, over energy recovery or disposal of waste.

We have ambitious targets to improve the way we manage materials by reducing waste, increasing recycling and keeping materials at a higher value for longer but still need capacity to dispose of residual waste while we make the transition to a circular economy in Scotland.

This year’s Programme for Government sets out an ambitious set of measures to help make it easier for households and businesses to support this goal, including the establishment of a £70 million fund to improve local authority recycling collection infrastructure. The Parliament has also now passed legislation to implement a deposit return scheme for Scotland which will help to boost recycling, and we are working with the other governments of the UK on reform of the packaging producer responsibility system to reduce waste and improve recycling.