The National Litter and Flytipping Strategy for Scotland
We welcomed the publication of the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy for Scotland in June 2023.
This followed an in-depth process of supporting people across Scotland to have their voices heard and to make responses to the consultation by the Scottish Government on the new strategy for Scotland.
Alongside Zero Waste Scotland and the Scottish Environment Protect Agency (SEPA), we supported the Scottish Government to develop the new strategy and its Action Plan to tackle the litter emergency which we declared in 2022.
Many of the key recommendations we made in our 2020 report – Time for a new approach to tackling litter and echoed in our update report - Time for a new approach: tackling the litter emergency have been carried through into the strategy action plan which we have committed to support delivery.
We worked hard to ensure that, despite constraints, the strategy is fit for purpose, delivers for the people of Scotland and meets the expectations of those who took part in the consultation.
We recognise that the Strategy and 2023/24 Action Plan doesn’t deliver everything we asked for and will not immediately reverse the decline we have recorded in cleanliness levels across Scotland, however it is a positive start, and we are now calling on everyone to play their part. Read our blog from CEO Barry Fisher outlining our hopes for the future.
The climate, nature and litter emergencies are all interlinked; with unsustainable consumption at the heart of all three. We are committed to collaborating with partners to drive implementation of the Strategy Action plan in an effort to make Scotland clean, green and sustainable.
Our journey to support the Strategy
Over the past five years we have stepped up our strategic approach to the way we tackle litter and waste. Key moments on this journey are highlighted below.
- We published 'Time for a new approach to tackling litter' in December 2020.
- We hosted a Litter Summit and stakeholder engagement event in the Spring of 2021 bringing together people who care about our litter emergency to discuss key elements of a potential new strategy for litter and flytipping.
- We supported the Scottish Government Consultation between December 2021 - March 2022 facilitating workshops and enabling young people, communities, businesses and local authorities to have their views heard and amplified.
- We submitted our own response to the consultation and welcomed the Analysis Report published by Scottish Government July 2022 which included many of the aspects we had called for including overwhelming support (88%) to develop and adopt a national campaign on litter; 70% of people supporting the creation of a national litter hub to support local communities; and a strong appetite (82%) to establish a community focused education programme - we are currently trialling our ‘Litterate’ community education programme.
- We declared a litter emergency and published an update report - 'Time for a new approach: tackling the litter emergency' in December 2022 alongside a public perception report 'Scottish Litter Survey 2022'.
Our support of the Action Plan
As a key delivery partner of the Strategy Action Plan, we are committed to working with our partners, funders and communities across the country. We will lead on engaging and empowering communities through the creation of an online litter hub and a new litter education programme, developing and testing innovative interventions to tackle littering behaviours and collecting and analysing litter data to support improvements in line with the Data Strategy.
