Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-41639

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what analysis it has conducted on the potential impact to charity and second-hand shops of introducing a kerbside textiles collection service, as discussed in the Draft Circular Economy Strategy for Scotland.

The Scottish Government recently held a consultation on whether local councils should be required to collect textiles at the kerbside. This was part of a commitment in the Circular Economy & Waste Route Map.

The consultation closed on 17 June 2025 and received 60 responses. Independent analysts are now reviewing the feedback, and a report will be published soon. The findings will also inform the co-design work on the Household Recycling Code of Practice.

The report will include analysis of feedback provided about the potential effects of household collection on charity shops, as well as reuse and resale organisations.

Question reference: S6W-41640

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether its plans to align with EU textiles policy, as discussed in the Draft Circular Economy Strategy for Scotland, includes support for adopting similar restrictions on the export of textile waste.

The Scottish Government supports the principle of alignment with the EU where it is meaningful to do so and contributes towards maintaining and advancing environmental standards.

This includes developing a producer responsibility approach to textiles and measures to address the disposal of unsold consumer goods, which could include textiles. International waste export legislation is currently a reserved matter for the UK Government; however, the Scottish Government will continue to engage with the UK Government on waste export legislation to seek EU alignment where appropriate.

As set out in the draft Circular Economy Strategy for Scotland, we are committed to improving the management of post-consumer textiles.

On 17 June 2025 a Scottish Government consultation closed on whether to make kerbside collection of textiles by local authorities a mandatory service. This consultation fulfilled a commitment in the Circular Economy & Waste Route map. Independent analysis of responses to the consultation is now being undertaken and a report will be published in due course which will also inform the co-design work on the Household Recycling Code of Practice.

Question reference: S6W-41631

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 03 November 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 14 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether there will be new and dedicated funding provided to support the (a) actions of the proposed Zero Waste Scotland Business Information Hub and (b) activity of enterprise agencies, as outlined in the Draft Circular Economy Strategy for Scotland.

Funding for these activities is included within this year’s budgets; future year budgets are to be confirmed. The Zero Waste Scotland Business Information Hub is designed to be an online self-service tool, building business knowledge of circular economy opportunities and benefits and arming businesses with a suite of tools so they can independently take steps to adopt more circular practices.

We have provided over £320 million to our enterprise agencies in 2025-26 to support their work with businesses and communities, which includes support for circular businesses.

Question reference: S6O-05163

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 19 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how the new Scottish Aggregates Tax, due to be introduced in April 2026, will contribute to creating a circular economy.

Question reference: S6O-05131

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 November 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 12 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it is reviewing the effectiveness of firework control zones.

Question reference: S6O-05096

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 October 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 November 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how it monitors the change of use of agricultural land classified as grade 3 or above, including for infrastructure projects.

Question reference: S6W-41154

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its estimate is of the economic costs of dealing with the health impacts of plastic pollution in Scotland.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) have advised there is currently no universal agreement on the health impacts or thresholds to measure safety levels of plastics in the environment. Consequently, there is currently no defined economic cost.

As outlined in response to the answer to question S6W-41153 on 27 October 2025, we continue to closely monitor the developments and advice from WHO on emerging evidence in relation to plastic pollution.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Question reference: S6W-41152

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 27 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what research it has conducted to understand the impact of microplastics in disposable cups.

There has been no specific research on microplastics in single use cups, but wider research on the subject of microplastics was considered as part of the Strategic Environmental Assessment. This concluded that reducing the numbers of disposable cups being used and littered the environmental impacts of microplastic pollution would be reduced. This and other impact assessments supported the development of our single use cups policy.

Question reference: S6W-41155

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the health impacts of plastic pollution in Scotland.

Whilst there is currently no universal agreement on the health impacts or thresholds to measure safety levels of plastic in the environment, we are committed to reducing plastic pollution and tackling its contribution to litter through measures as outlined in response to PQ S6W-41153 on 27 October 2025.

Littering of any kind, including plastic items, is a criminal offence in Scotland. Local authorities are responsible for enforcing the legislation which is designed to deter littering and support cleaner, greener communities across Scotland.

We continue to monitor developments and advice from the World Health Organisation on emerging evidence in relation to plastic pollution and the potential health impacts.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Question reference: S6W-41153

Asked by: Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 09 October 2025
Current Status: Answered by Jenni Minto on 27 October 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what research it has conducted to understand the health impacts of plastic pollution in Scotland.

We recognise there could be public concerns relating to the potential health impacts of plastic pollution. We continue to closely monitor the developments and advice from the World Health Organisation (WHO) on emerging evidence in relation to plastic pollution. However, we have currently not commissioned any research on this topic.

We are committed to reducing plastic pollution in general and have introduced the Environmental Protection (Single-use Plastic Products) (Scotland) Regulations 2021, which bans certain problematic single-use plastic items.

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