Scottish Government must do more to bin our throwaway society

The National

9 hours ago

Gillian Martin, the minister with responsibility for the circular economy said: 'There are huge opportunities in having an economy which makes reuse and recycling the default choice.'
From mobile phones to fast fashion and plastic bottles, people are trapped in a system which is expensive and wasteful. The new law is meant to change the way we use materials for good, but a whole year has passed and the only significant policy change has been a backwards step to indefinitely postpone plans for a 25p charge on disposable cups.
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We don't have time to fix the economy one product at a time, but this move would have shown an important shift that the Scottish Government has failed to achieve.
Disposable cups are an obvious symbol of our throwaway society. In Scotland, more than 380 million disposable cups are used every year. Many of them are made of a mix of materials like cardboard and plastic which means, contrary to what many people believe, they cannot be recycled. They are either sent to landfill or burned.
Studies have shown disposable cups are leaching hidden ingredients into our drinks – microplastics and toxic chemicals. One recent study suggests that more than 700 pieces of microplastic are ingested with every drink from a disposable cup. Microplastics have been linked to an array of diseases, from cancer to neurological, hormonal and immune diseases.
Despite the evidence of how harmful these products are, in 2019, when the Scottish Government first considered this issue, a 25p charge was favoured over a ban. Public consultations were conducted. Most of the public who responded supported a charge (66%), but more than half the businesses which responded favoured no charge at all. The policy was quietly shelved last month by the Scottish Government without announcement.
By giving in to corporate pressure like this, the Scottish Government has failed in its duty to protect the people of Scotland – knowingly allowing businesses to continue to use products that are harming people and the environment when better options exist, simply so they can boost their profits. And disposable cups are just one example of a product like this.
Looking at wider circular economy issues, things don't get much better – Scotland's recycling levels are the worst in the UK despite a £70m programme to improve them and new incinerators continue to be built despite a government ban on such technology.
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To truly fight back against the throwaway society, the Scottish Government must use the circular economy law to stand up to corporate greed and tackle the root causes of the issue.
There needs to be a step change in investment for reuse and repair so that everyone in Scotland has access to these services, which have benefits for communities as well as reducing carbon emissions. Companies should be required to pay for the cleanup of the products they sell, from clothing to toys, rather than the costs coming from the public purse.
Burning rubbish in incinerators has got to stop – when you burn a resource, you can't reuse or recycle it ever again. So, it's vital that the Scottish Government acts now to close the vast loopholes in its incinerator ban too.
With changes like these, Scotland can move away from the throwaway society, towards a future that will protect people and the planet.
Kim Pratt is Friends of the Earth Scotland's senior circular economy campaigner