Meeting of the Parliament 20 March 2024
At the outset, I note that the Scottish Conservatives support the general principles of the bill. A circular economy is an economic system whereby materials are circulated in as high a value state for as long as possible in order to extract the maximum economic, social and environmental value from them.
The “Circularity Gap Report Scotland” estimates that circular economy policies could result in our emissions dropping by 43 per cent and our resource consumption being reduced by almost half. However, progress has been painfully slow, with Scotland’s economy being just 1.3 per cent circular, as my colleague Edward Mountain said.
Unfortunately, as drafted, the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill will not deliver the change that we need. In fact, it feels more like a reaction to missing the 2013 household recycling target than a serious attempt to deliver a circular economy. If we factor in the proposals on littering and fly-tipping, what the Scottish Government has presented is not so much a circular economy bill as a waste and litter bill. Even at a basic level, the bill does not explicitly set itself the mission of driving the system that is needed to encourage prevention and reuse.
Members are well aware of my personal commitment to building a circular economy. In fact, when it looked like the Scottish Government had all but abandoned a circular economy bill, I offered to introduce one myself. The minister therefore knows that I am being sincere when I say that I stand ready to work constructively to strengthen the bill.
It needs to be strengthened, not least because it has been introduced as a framework bill. That means that there is precious little detail, which is a concern that has been highlighted by the Finance and Public Administration Committee and the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee. It also means that there is no guarantee of when, or even if, ministers will take action.
The provision to publish a circular economy strategy is a good place to address such concerns, not that legislation is required to construct said strategy. A robust process would signal a determination to act, so I hope that the Scottish Government pays heed to the concerns that have been raised about the current proposals, from an inadequate consultation process to a lack of clarity about how the Parliament will scrutinise draft strategies.
We need similar robustness when it comes to setting statutory targets for developing a circular economy, but the Scottish Government wants to make setting targets optional. It cannot possibly expect households and businesses to take the circular economy seriously if it says that it is only optional. I appreciate that the Scottish Government has a poor track record on statutory targets, having missed eight of the past 12 emissions targets, not to mention today’s bombshell from the UK Climate Change Committee that the Scottish National Party-Green coalition is set to miss the 2030 net zero target, saying that it is “beyond what is credible”. That is a complete and utter dereliction of duty.
There is clearly a need for ministers to be more accountable for missed targets. They could make things easier for themselves by ensuring that underlying policies are firmly rooted in evidence. That is not always the case, however. The proposal to restrict the disposal of unsold goods cited France as a model, so we might think that Scottish Government ministers would have spoken to their French counterparts about it, but the minister has confirmed that they have not. Similarly, it is not immediately apparent what assessment has been done on the priority materials that are identified in the circular economy route map.
I turn back to household waste. Proposals to develop a new waste and recycling code of practice for local authorities, along with local recycling targets, could help to drive up recycling rates. Local authorities also need to be committed to that aim. Glasgow City Council has proven year on year that it is not committed to that, but it will not matter unless local authorities are given the resources to do the job.