Litter and flytipping strategy: strategic environment assessment - post adoption statement

5 How environmental considerations have been integrated into the strategy

5.1 Environmental considerations in the strategy

The design, development, and implementation of the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy considers existing commitments on the environment, reflecting key Scottish Government objectives and ambitions:

• To enable the public to adopt alternative behaviours to waste management, through access to improved recycling opportunities, improved product design, awareness campaigns and targeted exploration to tackle litter on beaches (as part of Towards a Litter Free Scotland: A strategic Approach to Higher Quality Local Environments^[6] and the marine Scotland: A Marine Litter Strategy for Scotland).^[7]
• To clarify responsibilities for clearing of litter and flytipping through the provision of guidance in the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse (Scotland) 2018,^[8] identifying statutory duties under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, Section 89.^[9]
• To reduce the environmental impact of single-use plastic products that contribute to some of the most commonly littered items on European beaches and move towards a more circular economy by implementing a ban on the use of certain single-use plastic products. The Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Scotland) Regulations^[10] came into force on 1 June 2022 (subject to some exemptions).
• To examine how Extended Producer Responsibility^[11] could reduce the prevalence of packaging materials in littered and flytipped items and to embed circular economy principles into the design of packaging materials for reuse, recycling and recovery in partnership with packaging industries, as part of the transformation led by the Scottish Government's Making Things Last – A Circular Economy Strategy^[12] and the Safeguarding Scotland's Resources: Blueprint for a more Resource Efficient and Circular Economy (SSR)^[13]
• To address factors contributing to climate change through implementation of the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019^[14] and proposals and policies outlined in the Scottish Government (2018): The Climate Change Plan: The Third Report in Proposals and Policies 2018-2032,^[15] including targets for recycling and reduction in waste sent to landfill, and establishing a more circular economy.
• To sustain and enhance biodiversity and ecosystems on both land and at sea to restore ecosystem health across Scotland, through implementation of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy^[16] (in the process of public consultation for an updated version for 2022),^[17] and development of the Scotland's Biodiversity A Route Map to 2020,^[18] setting out priorities to meet the international Aichi Targets for biodiversity and improve the state of nature in Scotland.

The Scottish Government's overarching vision is one where Scotland's environment and communities are unblighted by litter and flytipping, and materials remain within a circular economy. Working collaboratively towards this goal offers opportunities to prevent litter and flytipping, to promote and contribute to a thriving circular economy for Scotland.

It is also to encourage and support positive behaviours, enabling individuals and organisations to choose the correct route of waste disposal and therefore improve the quality of their local environment, ensuring that individuals and organisations:

• Understand the harm (environmental, social, economic, wellbeing) that litter and flytipping cause and their responsibilities for prevention;
• Have the tools and incentives to effectively prevent litter and flytipping by making it easier for people to do the right thing at the right time
• Are aware of the consequences of not taking responsibility for their waste.

The measures being introduced are intended to prevent litter and flytipping, which will therefore reduce impacts on local environmental quality. As described in Section 1, litter and flytipping are being treated as separate but inter-related issues, which will allow for improved targeting of measures to bring about change; the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy identifies three key action themes for preventing litter and flytipping: Behaviour Change, Services and Infrastructure, and Enforcement. In accordance with these key themes the aims and objectives of the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy are outlined below.

5.1.1 Litter – Outcomes and Objectives

Behaviour Change

Outcome: Individuals, communities and organisations have greater awareness of the problems caused by litter, understand their responsibilities in preventing litter and are motivated to behave responsibly.

• Objective 1: Build our understanding of litter perceptions and behaviour to further enable targeted approaches for interventions and campaigns to be further developed.
• Objective 2: Further embed a shared approach between Scottish Government, Local Authorities, public agencies, the third sector and communities to drive litter prevention and behaviour change across Scotland.

Services and Infrastructure

Outcome: Scotland's services and infrastructure are fit for purpose, they encourage and enable responsible behaviour, and prioritise action and innovation that proactively prevents litter and supports a circular economy.

• Objective 3: Work with stakeholders to improve understanding of the sources, amount and composition of litter
• Objective 4: Encourage a shared approach to services across local authorities, national parks and other bodies with a statutory duty to clear litter in Scotland that will effectively support litter prevention.
• Objective 5: Empower community groups to take action by providing clear information, support and signposting.

Enforcement

Outcome: There is a strong and consistent enforcement model across Scotland that is fit for purpose and acts as a proportional deterrent and effectively stops people from littering.

• Objective 6: Develop a more effective enforcement model to deter and robustly tackle littering.
• Objective 7: Improve the consistency of enforcement practices.

5.1.2 Flytipping – Outcomes and Objectives

Behaviour Change

Outcome: Individuals and businesses have a clear understanding of their responsibilities to dispose of waste appropriately and are fully informed on the potential consequences of not doing so and are enabled and motivated to behave responsibly.

• Objective 8: Build understanding of behaviours that lead to flytipping, enabling targeted approaches to be developed.
• Objective 9: Develop and adopt a shared approach and consistency of information between Scottish Government, local authorities, public agencies and the third sector in relation to flytipping behaviour change across Scotland.

Services and Infrastructure

Outcome: There is a resilient national framework which provides consistent and joined up services that prevent flytipping where possible and tackle it effectively where it does occur.

• Objective 10: Improve our understanding of the sources, amount, spatial distribution and composition of flytipping in Scotland.
• Objective 11: Support the ongoing development of consistent, accessible and effective waste management services and infrastructure.
• Objective 12: Provide support to private landowners and land managers that experience flytipping on their land.

Enforcement

Outcome: There is a strong, consistent enforcement model that is fit for purpose and acts as an effective deterrent for flytipping behaviour. There is more consistent and co-ordinated enforcement activity across Scotland through effective partnership working

• Objective 13: Develop a more effective enforcement model to deter and robustly tackle flytipping.
• Objective 14: Improve consistency of enforcement activity across Scotland via effective partnership workings.

The National Litter and Flytipping Strategy will support progress towards the 2025 waste targets and accelerate Scotland's transition from a 'linear' economy to a more resource efficient and sustainable circular economy. In addition, the United Nations, in their report "Making Peace with Nature",^[19] describe three interlinked crises of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. These three crises are driven by our use of materials and now threaten our viability as a species. Litter and flytipping are a highly visible form of pollution caused by uncontrolled material losses into the environment and, as such, preventing these will contribute to addressing all three crises.

In addition, there are significant economic and social benefits to addressing litter and flytipping. Indirect costs are the negative impacts or consequences of litter that impact on society more widely, for example, crime, mental health and wellbeing. Further indirect costs due to environmental, economic and social impacts to the terrestrial and marine environments were estimated to exceed £196.7 million in 2019 according to recent research undertaken to update the figures referenced in the previous strategy on the scale and cost of litter and flytipping in Scotland.^[20] The availability of data, which is often limited and inconsistently collected or reported, was a significant barrier to this research project and so these overall figures have to treated with some caution but, based on available evidence, are the best estimate of the scale and cost of litter and flytipping in Scotland.

5.2 Environmental considerations through the SEA

The SEA has played an integral role in highlighting the environmental factors to be considered in the development of the measures for preventing litter and flytipping. Initially, the 12 topics covered by Schedule 3 (6) of the 2005 Act were reviewed, with 6 relevant topics scoped into the assessment (confirmed through scoping consultation).

5.2.1 Topics scoped into the SEA

SEA Topics and Justification

Biodiversity, flora and fauna

Litter and flytipping adversely affects biodiversity through entanglement of fauna, ingestion of litter, particularly plastics, and the exposure to hazardous materials such as asbestos. The new strategy could have positive effects on biodiversity by reducing these problems.

Human health

Litter and Flytipping has the potential to affect human health, for example through exposure to hazardous materials. Studies suggest that neighbourhood environmental incivilities such as flytipping and litter have a real and meaningful impact on people's wellbeing and mental health.^[21] Litter also affects the amenity of recreational assets such as beaches. It can also become entangled in the gear of recreational vessels, or cause divers to become entangled: both have human health and safety implications.

The new strategy could have positive effects on human health by addressing these problems

Water

Litter and flytipping affects water quality and the ecological/ environmental status of water.^[22] Effects on ecological/environmental status are covered under "biodiversity". Effects on water quality, including bathing waters, are explored under the "water" topic.

Climatic factors

Litter and flytipping contribute to climate change in two main ways. The requirement to extract and transport raw materials results in additional carbon emissions, instead of using the resources and embodied carbon held in litter and flytipped materials. As well as the embodied energy of the resource itself being wasted, further carbon emissions are released during the collection and processing of litter or flytipped material, most of which can then only be sent to energy from waste or landfill, due to the poor quality of the material.

Material assets

Litter and flytipping affects economic operations in the terrestrial, coastal and marine environments, through fouling of equipment and delays for clean-up operations. It may also affect sectors which depend on environmental quality as the basis for their activities, e.g. recreation. The requirement for disposal of low quality waste streams in litter and flytipping also increases pressure on landfill sites.

Landscape and visual impacts

Litter and flytipping affects the tranquillity and amenity of landscapes and seascapes. The SEA has focused on the potential effects on nationally important landscapes, given the high-level nature of the strategies.

As part of the SEA, and consistent with the requirements of Schedule 3 (1) and (5) of the 2005 Act, the SEA identified and reviewed other relevant plans, programmes and strategies (PPS) which could influence the development and objectives for preventing litter and flytipping. These included PPS at an international/European, national, regional or local level, commensurate with the scope of the strategy. The review identified the relationships between the strategy and these other documents i.e. how the measures for preventing litter and flytipping could be affected by the aims, objective and targets of other plans and programmes, or how the strategy could contribute to the achievement of their environmental and sustainability objectives.

For each SEA topic, baseline information was also reviewed to identify and characterise existing receptors that could be impacted by introduction of the measures to prevent litter and flytipping. The baseline provided context for assessing the potential factors that would be impacted by implementation of actions in the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy, including current trends that may be exacerbated by the absence of measures to prevent litter and flytipping (e.g. declining marine and terrestrial biodiversity, the contribution of litter and flytipping to waste arisings). The evolution of the baseline was taken to be the Business-as-Usual scenario for the assessment.

The activities associated with implementing measures proposed in the National Litter and Flytipping strategy were analysed to identify and evaluate (where applicable) the likely significant effects that could arise against the Business-as-Usual baseline. Where the baseline data has been slight, uncertain or incomprehensive, the best available information together with professional assumptions and judgement has been utilised to assess the anticipated significant effects, positive or negative, of introducing new measures proposed to prevent litter and flytipping.

An assessment of the measures for preventing litter and flytipping was undertaken in relation to the SEA topics: biodiversity, flora and fauna; human health; water; climatic factors; material assets and landscape and visual impacts. Assessment criteria were developed to ensure that the SEA focussed on the significant environmental impacts relevant to each scoped in topic area.

The table below sets out the assessment framework and criteria used for each topic.

SEA Topic: SEA Criteria

Biodiversity, flora and fauna

• To safeguard terrestrial, marine and coastal ecosystems, including species and habitats, and their interactions
• To avoid pollution of the terrestrial, coastal and marine environments
• To maintain or work towards good ecological and environmental status

Human health

• To safeguard the amenity of recreational assets
• To safeguard human health

Water

• To safeguard water quality, including bathing waters

Climatic factors

• To prevent any increase in net carbon impacts and to contribute to Scotland's journey to meet the 2045 net zero commitment.

Material assets

• To maintain the environmental quality which supports economic activities
• To prevent increased pressure on material assets such as landfill sites

Landscape and visual impacts

• To protect and, where appropriate, enhance the landscape/seascape

The potential effects of the measures for preventing litter and flytipping were examined to identify, detail and appraise the likely significant effects that could arise drawing on the following to inform the assessment:

• consultation with statutory consultees and other stakeholders;
• the contextual information including a review of PPS, the regulatory framework and baseline;
• the nature of the potential effect (what is expected to happen);
• the timing and duration of the potential effect (e.g., short, medium or long term);
• the geographic scale of the potential effect (e.g., local, regional, national);
• the location of the potential effect (e.g., rural or urban communities);
• the potential effect on vulnerable communities or sensitive habitats;
• the reasons for whether the effect is considered significant;
• the reasons for any uncertainty, where this is identified; and
• the potential to avoid, minimise, reduce, mitigate, or compensate for the identified effect(s) with evidence (where available).