National Litter and Flytipping Strategy

1 Introduction

1.1 Why we need a new National Litter & Flytipping Strategy

The National Litter and Flytipping Strategy sets out a refreshed approach to tackling litter and flytipping in order to protect and enhance Scotland’s environment and ensure safer and cleaner communities and contribute to a thriving circular economy for Scotland.

The context within which the previous national litter strategy, Towards a Litter-free Scotland^[1], was published has evolved significantly, with increased focus on protecting and valuing our natural capital and improving the retention of resources in the economy. The COVID-19 pandemic also posed significant challenges in regards to the disposal of household and business waste as well as the safe provision of litter and streetscene services by councils.

The importance of ensuring consistent and fair access to appropriate disposal routes for waste was also highlighted during the consultation and development stages of the new Strategy.

The United Nations, in its Making Peace with Nature report, describes three interlinked crises of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss^[2]. These crises are driven by our use of materials, with litter and flytipping being a highly visible form of pollution caused by uncontrolled material losses into the environment.

Litter and flytipping are losses of material from the economy, so reducing litter and flytipping will also help accelerate Scotland’s transition from a ‘linear’ economy, which is environmentally unsustainable and energy and resource intensive, to a more resource efficient and sustainable circular economy.

As a society we have a collective responsibility to tackle litter (defined as waste in the wrong place) and flytipping (the dumping of waste in the wrong place, usually pre-meditated and involving larger items or volumes) as these issues have wide-ranging impacts on our health, environment and economy.

This Strategy sets out how national and local government, business, third sector, communities and individuals can work together to support behaviour change, improve infrastructure and strengthen enforcement, in order to protect our environment, better value our resources as a society and prevent the escape of materials from the economy.

Litter and flytipping pollution involves and impacts on many organisations and communities. For these reasons it is vital that there is strategic, co-ordinated action to develop and deploy effective solutions, focused on prevention. Recognising the different drivers of litter and flytipping, this Strategy has been developed as a National Litter and Flytipping Strategy, to allow a tailored approach to be taken to each issue.

The delivery of this Strategy will comprise three elements: a high-level strategy setting out a vision and strategic objectives;

legislative action to prevent and tackle litter and flytipping; and annual action plans setting out in detail activity needed to deliver the outcomes and vision.

The publication of this six-year Strategy is accompanied by a 2023-24 Action Plan^[*] detailing specific actions and interventions that will be progressed in the first year of the Strategy.

1.2 Strategic context

Achieving the vision set out in this Strategy will contribute directly to some of the National Outcomes in Scotland’s National Performance Framework^[3] with a focus on enabling citizens to value, enhance, protect and enjoy our environment.

Reducing litter and flytipping will allow us to:

• Value and enjoy our built and natural environment, and protect and enhance it for future generations.
• Reduce the local and global environmental impact of our consumption and production.
• Ensure our public services are high quality, continually improving, efficient, and responsive to local people’s needs.
• Live in well-designed, sustainable places where we are able to access the amenities and services we need.

Progress towards these outcomes will also help Scotland to meet several UN Sustainable Development Goals including responsible consumption and production; life below water and life on land^[4].

The Environment Strategy vision and outcomes^[5] describe our long-term ambitions for restoring Scotland’s natural environment, playing our part in tackling the twin global nature and climate emergencies, and harnessing wider benefits for Scotland’s prosperity and wellbeing. While providing an overarching framework that brings together our strategies and plans for achieving our environmental goals, it also aims to identify new strategic priorities and opportunities to drive transformative economic and social change, and live within our planet’s sustainable limits.

The global use of natural resources has more than tripled since 1970 and continues to grow^[6]. Using resources sustainably is essential to tackling both the climate and nature crises.

The Environment Strategy outcome “we use and re-use resources wisely and have ended our throw-away culture” aims at accelerating progress towards Scotland’s ambitious waste prevention and recycling targets, tackling our throwaway culture and scaling up and mainstreaming circular economy business models in Scotland.

The long-term strategic ambitions and policy priorities set by the Environment Strategy are underpinned by a set of guiding principles to ensure our environmental laws and policies are designed effectively to achieve these ambitions. In tandem with wider work to promote a circular economy in Scotland, the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy strives to embed the principles of polluter pays (the polluter should bear the cost of pollution control and remediation), prevention (preventative action should be taken to avoid environmental damage) and rectification (environmental damage should, as a priority, be rectified at source).

The design, development and implementation of the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy also takes into account existing commitments on the environment, reflecting key Scottish Government objectives and ambitions.

These include:

• To develop current and future measures to prevent litter from entering the marine and coastal environment, and to support its removal on beaches^[7].
• To address factors contributing to climate change through implementation of proposals and policies outlined in the

Scottish Government’s Climate Change Plan^[8], 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 a Scottish Biodiversity Strategy^[9].