ZWS launches plan to tackle Scotland's overconsumption crisis

Zero Waste Scotland has unveiled an ambitious Corporate Plan for 2024-2030, revealing that Scotland's material consumption has reached 22 tonnes per person - nearly triple the estimated sustainable level.

The plan, which aims to 'rewire Scotland's economy', comes as mounting evidence shows the nation's current 'take, make, waste' model is driving environmental degradation and economic inefficiency.

"We're in the midst of a global ecological crisis. There's no avoiding this fact," says Iain Gulland, Chief Executive at Zero Waste Scotland. "In the past six years alone, the global economy has extracted and used almost as many materials as over the course of the entire 20th century."

At the heart of the Corporate Plan lies a comprehensive strategy built around helping people understand and care about overconsumption's environmental impacts while promoting circular practices. The plan emphasises creating supportive policies and frameworks that enable businesses to adopt circular practices, with particular focus on high-impact sectors such as net zero infrastructure and the built environment.

Building a Circular Future

The transformation to a circular economy will be driven by three core principles: using less through reduced raw material extraction, using products longer through extended lifespans, and using materials again through maximised reuse and recycling opportunities.

Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, Gillian Martin MSP, endorsed the plan: "We have already seen innovation across Scotland in this space, with businesses and communities finding ways to turn what we throw away into valuable new products and services. This in turn provides new market opportunities, gives consumers better choices and reduces overconsumption."

The implementation of the plan will be tracked through a detailed 'logic model' that aligns short-term actions with long-term outcomes. Zero Waste Scotland will begin by expanding its research capabilities through new partnerships at home and abroad, developing enhanced measures of the social and economic value of circular strategies.

A key focus will be transforming business support through refined strategies focusing on high-impact sectors. The organisation will build formal relationships with broader business networks and sectoral organisations to deliver circular solutions. This will be supported by proactive engagement with financial institutions, skills development bodies, and innovation centres to integrate circular economy principles into their operations.

In the built environment sector, Zero Waste Scotland will develop specific roadmaps and delivery channels for implementing circular practices. The organisation will work closely with local authorities and regional economic partnerships to advance high-impact economic development opportunities through place-based development plans.

Infrastructure Development

A notable focus of the plan focuses on developing Scotland's physical infrastructure to support circular practices. The organisation will undertake exploratory research and feasibility testing across entire value chains, rather than focusing on individual components. This comprehensive approach aims to identify barriers and opportunities for maximising the value of materials within Scotland's economy.

The plan includes support for the development of large-scale reuse hubs to demonstrate impact and provide replicable models. Through the Scotland's Recycling Improvement Fund, the organisation will help align recycling services more effectively with economic opportunities, while expanding the nation's reuse and repair infrastructure through programmes like Revolve.

"Our extensive work to date with businesses, local government, people, and communities has shown what is possible," comments Dominic Fry, Chair of Zero Waste Scotland. "We'll galvanise partners to embed circular principles across Scotland, delivering sustainable prosperity in a way that will enable local, national, and global benefits."

The organisation has committed to being 'disruptive, focused, and unapologetic' in pursuing these goals, with specific targets including reducing Scotland's extraction of raw materials by one-third by 2030. Progress will be measured through a new corporate performance framework, which will track both immediate outputs and longer-term outcomes in creating a more favourable circular economy ecosystem.