Meeting of the Parliament 20 March 2024
My point is that Glasgow City Council has proven year on year that it does not care about driving up household recycling rates. That is its track record, and it is very much evident. It is nearly impossible to have such low recycling rates; I am trying to work out in my head how it is kept so low.
It is clear that COSLA and waste experts have a role to play in ensuring that such proposals fit the circumstances of different local authorities, especially those of island and rural authorities.
Similarly, penalising households that have failed to live up to their responsibilities should be a last resort. Everyone in society has a responsibility for their own waste, but the default approach should be one of education and positive engagement. Again, local authorities need to have the resources for that.
The concerns that exist are not insurmountable, but finding solutions will require all stakeholders to work constructively. There is so much that the bill should cover, from public procurement to system design, from take-back provisions to sustainable consumption and from reuse targets to scope 3 emissions reporting. That is what I want to see in the bill, and I hope that that is what the minister wants, so let us get on and do it.