Litter and flytipping: scale and cost

3 Value of Materials Lost in Scotland

3.1 Background and Context

When material is littered, it either remains in the environment or it is collected and typically managed as residual waste. As a result, there is a loss of value associated with the potential for the correct sorting and recycling of the material. With a strong focus on circularity of materials and limiting the use of raw materials, this avoided loss can have a significant associated potential opportunity cost. Using the litter tonnage calculated earlier in the report, alongside the composition of littered material and the overall expected recycling rates in Scotland, the value of materials lost to littering can be calculated. Given the lack of updated compositional analysis of litter in Scotland, a litter composition analysis by Keep Britain Tidy focused on litter composition in England has been used as a proxy (recognising that this may not be completely representative of the Scottish context).^[94] The study provides an analysis by count, which has been converted to weight using estimates, in order to assess the value of litter. Weight estimates were compiled as part of a 2020 study Eunomia conducted for WRAP.^[95] The material values per tonne used are based on the aggregated and average prices provided by letsrecycle.com for 2019.^[96]

The Scottish government has set out a target of achieving an overall 70% recycling rate of household waste by 2025, with recycling rates at 44.9% as of 2019.^[97] These values have been used to calculate the portion of potentially recovered material through the avoidance of litter. In this valuation, it is assumed that all litter goes to residual waste streams.

3.2 Results

Table 3‑1 provides the outcome of the calculations pertaining to the value of materials lost in Scotland. At the current household recycling rate of 44.9% and assuming a litter tonnage of 18,711 tonnes, the material value lost to littering is £416,320. At Scotland’s target of 70% recycling of household waste, the loss of material value would be £649,051. It must be noted that a large portion of litter is accounted for under “general litter” which includes items such as pens/pen lids, batteries, and elastic bands. For these categories, a conservative estimate of £20 per tonne has been assumed, as it is impossible to accurately quantify the value of miscellaneous items. In both outlined scenarios the majority of the value is due to the recovery of metal cans. Looking ahead, it can be expected that the value of the material lost will increase with recycling rates, assuming material values and total litter tonnages remain constant.

3.3 Summary

Overall, at current recycling rates the value of material lost in Scotland is £416,320, with this rising to £649,051 at a target recycling rate of 70%. The greatest contributor to this loss of value is metal cans at £253,577. In order to provide a more accurate representation of materials lost in Scotland, an updated study on litter composition focused on Scotland is required.