Parliamentary questions
Maurice Golden
1,697 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.
25 Aug 2021 · Portfolio Question
To ask the Scottish Government what steps it will take to support more sustainable farming.
21 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-32341 by Roseanna Cunningham on 6 October 2020, what progress has been made in considering the rural exemption for food waste.
Answer · Lorna Slater: The planned consultation on the range of commitments identified in the Food Waste Reduction Action Plan has been delayed by a number of factors, including the recent Covid-19 crisis. We are developing a Routemap to deliver our ambitious 2025 waste and recycl…
21 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of households (a) participates in local authority provided food waste collections, and (b) has access to food waste collections.
Answer · Lorna Slater: The Scottish Household Survey 2017 shows that there has been a steady increase in the number of people using food waste recycling caddies, rather than throwing food out with general waste. Less than half (48%) of households now dispose of food waste with thei…
21 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of households uses local authority provided food waste caddies.
Answer · Lorna Slater: I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02457 on14 September 2021. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-commit…
21 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of relevant businesses (a) has access to and (b) participates in separate food waste collections.
Answer · Lorna Slater: Participation rate information for businesses in Scotland is not available centrally and local councils should be approached in seeking this information.
21 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent on food waste prevention and reduction programmes since 2013.
Answer · Lorna Slater: Since 2016 - which is when a specific food waste support programme came in - up to April 2021, approx. £1.23 million has been spent. Table 1 also provides a breakdown of Scottish Government’s advertising spend targeted at food waste prevention and reduction …
21 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-32196 by Roseanna Cunningham on 30 September 2020, whether it will provide updated figures on Zero Waste Scotland audits for 2019-20, regarding (a) reductions in (i) food waste and (ii) CO2 emissions and (b) monetary savings.
Answer · Lorna Slater: 2019/2020 identified savings were as follows: Year Food waste reduction (tonnes) Food waste CO2 Food waste cost Food: raw material (tonnes) Food: raw material CO2 Food: raw material cost 2019-20 968 2944tCO2e £228,516 636 1547tCO2e £259,446
21 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its progress towards the 2025 food waste reduction target, including a tonnage breakdown for food waste (a) arisings, (b) incinerated/landfilled and (c) prevented and, if it is not possible to provide such figures, by what date the data will be availa…
Answer · Lorna Slater: A full update on progress towards our target of a 33% reduction in food waste by 2025 will be provided in the upcoming review of Scotland’s Food Waste Reduction Action Plan. A detailed analysis on the composition of residual waste is currently being undertake…
21 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the most recent baseline update is for (a) household and (b) commercial and industrial food waste arisings.
Answer · Lorna Slater: The most recent baseline data is contained within the 2016 Zero Waste Scotland report How Much Food is Wasted in Scotland? | Zero Waste Scotland . This report uses 2013 data and is broken down as follows:Household (solid and liquid waste) – 598,946 tonnes (…
20 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-01877 by Michael Matheson on 20 August 2021, whether it will provide a breakdown of what proportion of household plastic waste has been recycled in Scotland in each year since 2014.
Answer · Lorna Slater: This information is publically available through the SEPA Waste Discover Data Tool: https://informatics.sepa.org.uk/WasteAllSources/
20 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what modelling work it has undertaken on any requirement for residual waste treatment capacity in Scotland, and whether it will provide a breakdown of any forecasts since 2016 for such requirements.
Answer · Lorna Slater: In April 2019, we published the Waste Markets Study which assessed the treatment options for Scottish biodegradable municipal waste. The study is available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/waste-markets-study-full-report/ We have also commissioned w…
20 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it has taken to help facilitate joint discussions between local authorities and industry regarding recycling and materials recovery.
Answer · Lorna Slater: Scottish Government and Zero Waste Scotland have ongoing engagement with local authorities, individually and collectively, as well as with private companies & industry associations. For example, our Waste Sector Forum, which meets monthly, includes representa…
20 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what (a) baseline material input standards have been established for material recovery facilities (MRFs) and (b) improvement in output quality from MRFs has been delivered since 2016.
Answer · Lorna Slater: This information is publically available through the SEPA Recyclate Quality Reporting Tool, which can be accessed here: https://informatics.sepa.org.uk/RecyclateQuality/ The tool presents data from samples taken from material streams entering and exiting m…
20 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of any improvements identified in capturing commercial and industrial waste data since 2016.
Answer · Lorna Slater: In 2016, SEPA developed and implemented an automated tool to capture and summarise commercial and industrial waste data from data returns. This automation reduces errors and allows revision of historical data to account for resubmissions of data more easily. …
20 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has undertaken of managing market influenced budgets in local authorities.
Answer · Tom Arthur: The Scottish Government work in partnership with COSLA on behalf of all 32 local authorities to negotiate a financial settlement that ensures local authorities can continue to provide the high quality frontline services that the people of Scotland expect and …
20 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what information it has on whether a recommendation was submitted on a preferred design of a HazDoc system for waste monitoring.
Answer · Lorna Slater: We are not aware of a specific recommendation for the preferred full design for a HazDoc system submitted to Scottish Government. The development of an electronic system for hazardous waste is being taken forward as part of our work to implement an electroni…
20 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how far it has progressed on the development of an electronic system for (a) hazardous waste and (b) transfrontier shipment of waste, and what the cost has been of (i) each project and (ii) the staff hours dedicated to each project.
Answer · Lorna Slater: The development of an electronic system for hazardous waste is being taken forward through a multi-agency project which proposes to implement a mandatory electronic waste tracking system. We plan on consulting on these proposals in the Autumn. Accurate costs …
20 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what trial or pilot projects of the edoc waste monitoring system it has undertaken since 2016.
Answer · Lorna Slater: The Electronic Duty of Care (edoc) system has been operational since January 2014. We are taking forward the commitment to move towards the use of a mandatory system for waste monitoring as part of our work to implement an electronic waste tracking system, se…
20 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what work it has done to model future recycling performance.
Answer · Lorna Slater: Detailed modelling to provide projections of future recycling performance is being undertaken as part of our work to develop a route map towards our 2025 recycling and waste targets, as set out in our update to the Climate Change Plan.
20 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government when it first made plans for a new round of household waste compositional analysis, following the 2013-15 programme, and how (a) much money and (b) many staffing hours it allocated to this.
Answer · Lorna Slater: Scotland’s Waste Data Strategy board keeps Scotland’s evidence requirements for waste and materials under constant review. Previous analyses of the composition of household municipal waste were undertaken in 2009 and 2014-15. Zero Waste Scotland had planned …
20 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many households have access to food waste collections.
Answer · Lorna Slater: The latest figures are from September 2015 and can be found in Zero Waste Scotland’s report: How Much Food Waste Is There in Scotland? , published in 2016, showing that over 1.5 million Scottish households had access to food waste collection.
20 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what risk assessment it has carried out regarding the potential impact on recycling rates of charging for garden waste collection.
Answer · Lorna Slater: No risk assessment has been carried out regarding the potential impact on recycling rates of charging for garden waste collection. There is no statutory requirement for local authorities to separately collect garden waste and charging for its collection is n…
20 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what impact its deposit return scheme will have on the ability of local authorities to fulfil the aims of the Household Recycling Charter, agreed by COSLA in 2015, which seeks to help generate large volumes of high-quality recyclate from home recycling.
Answer · Lorna Slater: The Scottish Government is currently working with Zero Waste Scotland, COSLA and an Advisory Group, comprising local authority Waste Managers, to review the Code of Practice that accompanies the Household Recycling Charter. One of the aims of the review is to…
20 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government what risk assessment it has carried out regarding whether the Household Recycling Charter can deliver increased recycling rates in line with the targets set.
Answer · Lorna Slater: No specific risk assessment has been carried out for the impact of the Household Recycling Charter on recycling rates. The Scottish Government has committed to evaluate the Household Recycling Charter. This work has been delayed temporarily due to the COVID-…
20 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government which local authorities have (a) signed up to and (b) successfully met the Household Recycling Charter code of practice.
Answer · Lorna Slater: Of the 32 local authorities across Scotland, 31 have signed up to the voluntary Household Recycling Charter, Edinburgh City Council has not yet signed up. So far, 9 councils have fully aligned their services with the Code of Practice, these are: Dumfries & Ga…
20 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it has spent supporting local authorities to adopt the Household Recycling Charter.
Answer · Lorna Slater: Over and above the local government finance settlement, between 2015 – 2019 the Scottish Government provided around £8 million through Zero Waste Scotland to support local authorities in aligning their services with the Household Recycling Charter Code of Pra…
19 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a (a) timeline of the work that (i) it and (ii) partner agencies have undertaken on the edoc waste monitoring system referenced in the strategy, Making Things Last: a circular economy strategy for Scotland, and (b) breakdown of the costs of this work, including (A…
Answer · Lorna Slater: The Electronic Duty of Care (edoc) system has been operational since January 2014 and was the result of a 4 year, multi-agency project. These project costs are not held centrally. The project was funded through the EU’s LIFE+ environment programme and led by …
19 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-01875 by Michael Matheson on 16 August 2021, what plans it had to introduce the edoc waste monitoring system referenced in the strategy, Making Things Last: a circular economy strategy for Scotland, before agreeing to a four nations consultation.
Answer · Lorna Slater: The Electronic Duty of Care (edoc) system has been operational since January 2014. We are taking forward the commitment to move towards the use of a mandatory system for waste monitoring as part of our work to implement an electronic waste tracking system, s…
13 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the costs of tackling littering in each local authority.
Answer · Mairi McAllan: Scottish Government does not hold information on the cost of tackling litter in each local authority. Local Authorities are responsible for clearing litter on public land. They will be providing information on the costs of tackling litter as part of the forth…
13 Aug 2021 · Written Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-32506 by Roseanna Cunningham on 13 November 2020, whether it will provide updated figures to include spend during 2020-21.
Answer · Mairi McAllan: Zero Waste Scotland have spent the following amount of money on tackling litter from 2015 to 2021: Year Spend on tackling litter 2020-21 £283,807 2019-20 £92,397 2018-19 £119,081 2017-18 £379,465 2016-17 £480,786 2015-16 £658,647 Additional fun…