Mentions:
1: Sarah Dyke (LD - Somerton and Frome) It could potentially save about £11 billion, given the social cost of litter and given higher recycling - Speech Link
2: Robbie Moore (Con - Keighley) They have been found in large quantities in beach litter surveys conducted by DEFRA and the Marine Conservation - Speech Link
Asked by: Matheson, Michael (Scottish National Party - Falkirk West)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it is considering any further legislation to tackle street litter.
Answered by McAllan, Màiri - Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition
Yes, our Circular Economy Bill proposes modifications to the Environmental Protection Act 1990, implementing new legislative powers to tackle littering from vehicles. These will allow authorised officers to impose a civil penalty charge on the keeper of a vehicle from which littering has occurred. Further adjustments to legislation may be identified by the work on the National Litter and Flytipping Strategy and will be considered as we progress delivery.
Apr. 29 2024
Source Page: Scottish Government call for evidence: tackling consumption of single-use food containers and other commonly littered or problematic single-use items - summary of responsesFound: , claiming that such litter is a ‘danger to…[..]
Apr. 02 2024
Source Page: Prohibition of the sale and supply of single-use vapes - Strategic Environmental Assessment: Environmental ReportFound: consumption of reusable vape packaging, such as refill containers, which could also enter the environment as litter
Asked by: Lord Marlesford (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to enforce legislation pertaining to littering on slip roads off roads managed by National Highways.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The responsibility for clearing highway litter and sweeping carriageways is governed by the Environmental Protection Act (1990); Section 89(1) places a duty on National Highways to ensure that the motorways and some trunk roads, so far as is practicable, is kept clear of litter and refuse. The relevant district or Local Authority manages litter collection on the rest of the roads in England.
The Department and the Highways Monitor challenge National Highways on litter performance. National Highways is committed to reporting annually on the percentage of the Strategic Road Network which is predominately free of litter, refuse or detritus apart from some small items, in line with the Code of practice on litter and refuse published by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
National Highways does not have litter enforcement powers on the strategic road network, Local Authorities do have the powers to take forward civil and criminal prosecutions if they have sufficient evidence to do so.
Jan. 29 2024
Source Page: Marine Fund Scotland: grants awardedFound: from the sea in and also raise awareness of the damage caused by marine litter by engaging with the
Mentions:
1: Kim Leadbeater (LAB - Batley and Spen) Friend on securing this important and timely debate on litter action groups. - Speech Link
2: Rebecca Pow (CON - Taunton Deane) He started a big litter collection off his own bat; it was, I think, just before covid. - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Martin, Gillian (SNP - Aberdeenshire East) dog that has a second litter, or whatever. - Speech Link
2: Martin, Gillian (SNP - Aberdeenshire East) If someone in a house in a certain street with one litter—just a domestic situation—was on a register - Speech Link
3: Martin, Gillian (SNP - Aberdeenshire East) What if a household gets caught out and finds itself with a litter? - Speech Link
4: Martin, Gillian (SNP - Aberdeenshire East) Are you expecting members of the public to phone up and identify neighbours with a litter of puppies? - Speech Link
Asked by: Lennon, Monica (Scottish Labour - Central Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it has assessed any impact of marine pollution caused by menstrual products.
Answered by McAllan, Màiri - Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition
Scottish Government research shows that an estimated 340,000 single-use period products are incorrectly disposed of every day in Scotland. Sewage treatment facilities will remove a portion of these, however it is known that some will reach the marine environment. Although there is no differential impact specifically caused by period products, plastic pollution in general has a significant, negative impact on the marine environment, and incorrectly disposed of period products are part of that litter problem. In recognition of that, the Scottish Government has actions within the Marine Litter Strategy to tackle the issue of marine litter caused by sanitary items.
Asked by: Golden, Maurice (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - North East Scotland)
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-23231 by Mairi McAllan on 11 December 2023, how much more data it anticipates it will gather before being able to establish a baseline or trends.
Answered by McAllan, Màiri - Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Net Zero and Just Transition
The Scottish Government microplastics monitoring programme began in 2013, and has undertaken annual surveys since that time. The Scottish Government has conducted an initial assessment for microplastics in surface water, which was published in Scotland’s Marine Assessment 2020, using data from 2013-14 to 2019-20. This assessment can be viewed at https://marine.gov.scot/sma/assessment/microplastics-surface-water
There is currently no internationally agreed baseline for microplastics in surface water, which is mainly due to very few countries conducting this sampling. The sampling of microplastics in surface water generates highly variable data. Due to this variable nature, the data Scottish Government currently holds is not sufficient to produce trends, and several more years of sampling would be needed for a scientifically robust analysis to be conducted and support future assessments.
Our microplastic sampling compliments our wider marine litter monitoring programme and outputs from this have been used to inform the action plan of our revised Marine Litter Strategy published in 2022. All of these actions help address microplastic pollution as they target macro litter which can break down into microplastics, such as fishing gear and wet-wipes containing plastic, as well as microplastics directly in the form of plastic pellets. Plastic pellets are the second largest source of primary microplastic pollution globally. Our work on pellets has been ground breaking and used to inform multiple outputs: the first internationally applicable Publicly Available Specification which is a form of standard published by the British Standards Institution and sets best handling practice requirements for businesses, an internationally adopted recommendation for pellet handling and certification schemes through the Oslo Paris Convention, and our work has also supported the development of a European certification scheme to prevent pellet loss. This follows a previous action on microplastics in the form of legislation to ban microbeads from rinse-off personal care products in 2018.