National Litter and Flytipping Strategy

4 Enabling success: Ensuring effective strategy implementation

This Strategy establishes an ambitious vision, a set of outcomes to describe what success looks like and a set of objectives to deliver it. It is designed to create the conditions necessary to drive these changes.

In developing this Strategy, as noted in Section 2, we have identified factors which either supported or limited delivery of the previous National Litter Strategy to inform our future approach.

4.1 The importance of collaboration

Litter and flytipping are complex issues which cannot be solved by organisations working in isolation. Effective collaboration between agencies, and with the public, will be fundamental to the Strategy’s success.

Engagement and partnership working with key stakeholders has been central to the development of this Strategy and will be crucial for effective delivery of its outcomes and specific objectives going forward.

Delivering the Strategy will entail a participatory and inclusive approach that engages a wide range of delivery partners including local authorities, land owners, non- government organisations (NGOs), local communities, business, and the scientific and research community. This will engage and empower stakeholders and communities, and build upon existing mechanisms to support shared understanding and collaboration.

To achieve the level of impact that is needed to deliver a litter and flytipping free Scotland, we will need to mobilise actions by individuals, organisations, small, medium and large businesses and adopt a whole-of- society approach. It will require widespread behaviour change, delivered through a combination of measures including education, enforcement and sharing best practice. Through the strategy’s implementation, we will progress a range of activities to deliver effective interventions and support stakeholder and public engagement on litter and flytipping.

4.2 Delivery Framework

This Strategy represents the first element in Scotland’s National Litter and Flytipping Governance and Delivery Framework.

The delivery structure comprises three elements

1. A high-level Strategy setting out a vision for a litter and flytipping free Scotland, a set of Outcomes which articulates what ‘success looks like’ and a set of Priority Actions to mobilise action of sufficient scale and scope.

2. Legislative action, through the Circular Economy Bill and additional secondary legislation, which will put in place provisions to prevent litter and flytipping, and improve enforcement when it does occur.

3. An Action Plan, which will set out in detail the range of actions needed to deliver the outcomes and vision and the ownership of each action. It will be reviewed annually to incorporate learning, successes and emerging insights gained through collaboration and additional data. This will mobilise key sectors and policy areas and ensure coherence and alignment with key strategies.

Priority actions for the first year of the Strategy are set out in our 2023-24 Action Plan*, published in tandem with this Strategy.

4.3 Governance

A new Governance and Delivery Framework will guide and review progress. It is anticipated that the governance structure will involve:

• A high-level Strategy Delivery Group to oversee the delivery plan and ensure momentum is maintained. It will agree priorities, drive implementation, review progress and adapt plans as required; and be supported by
• Topic-based Action Delivery groups covering, for example, data and enforcement, which will shape delivery of specific actions; and
• Mechanisms to engage more widely with stakeholders, such as the Flytipping Forum.

The governance structure will provide leadership, representation and influence from a local to a national level, bringing together skills, knowledge and resources from across a variety of sectors.

The three-tiered approach will help build the links between the high level strategic framework and activities at operational level.

It will enable the wide variety of stakeholders required to deliver strategy interventions to shape and take forward specific actions, fostering ownership of the Strategy and helping to ensure the necessary collaboration which will be fundamental to the strategy’s success. It will support clear communications channels and offer different levels of involvement.