Scotland's Zero Waste Plan

Conclusion and Delivery

Scotland has made great progress in its approach to waste since devolution. Much has been achieved by public, private and third sectors and individuals, but there are still challenging goals ahead in continuing to improve our waste prevention, reuse and recycling performance. These past achievements are a strong foundation for further improvements, and this Zero Waste Plan focuses on the measures and areas of activity with the greatest potential to deliver these improvements.

This Zero Waste Plan charts the way forward over the next 10 years towards a zero waste Scotland. The Plan sets out an ambitious programme of policy changes, implementation and other activities which will require sustained commitment from the Scottish Government and a wide range of partners throughout Scotland. The most immediate priorities for action are contained in the individual actions in this Plan, and progress towards these will be monitored closely.

The Scottish Government has established Zero Waste Scotland to provide a new streamlined and coordinated delivery programme, offering advice and support to businesses, individuals, communities and local authorities on how they can contribute to a zero waste Scotland by using resources more efficiently, through waste prevention, reuse, recycling and recovery. Zero Waste Scotland will take the lead in delivering a number of actions in the Zero Waste Plan, and the details of delivery will be contained in Zero Waste Scotland's Operating Plans (which can be found at www.zerowastescotland.org.uk ).

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency, along with other key partners, will continue to play a key role in supporting zero waste policies, through its regulatory functions to control activities with an impact on the environment, and by collecting and presenting the robust waste data required by the Scottish Government to review the progress and refresh or revise actions for the future. Data about Scotland's waste is available on SEPA's website at www.sepa.org.uk .

The following supporting annexes form part of this Zero Waste Plan and are available at www.scotland.gov.uk/zerowasteplan.

Annex A - Zero Waste Targets and Data Needs

Annex B - Role of Land-use Planning in delivering Zero Waste

Annex C - Landfill Bans and Supporting Policies

Annex D - Waste Framework Directive - information on implementation (to follow)