The Scottish Household Survey 2017 shows that there has been a steady increase in the number of people using food waste recycling caddies, rather than throwing food out with general waste. Less than half (48%) of households now dispose of food waste with their general rubbish. The proportion of households making use of local authority-provided food caddies was 55 % in 2017

In response to (b), the duty to segregate food waste in the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 covers approximately 80% of Scotland’s population. The latest figures are from September 2015 and can be found in Zero Waste Scotland’s report: How Much Food Waste Is There in Scotland? , published in 2016, showing that over 1.5 million Scottish households had access to food waste collection.

The upcoming review of the Food Waste Reduction Action Plan in addition to the development of a Routemap to deliver our ambitious 2025 waste and recycling targets will consider improvements to the data collection and monitoring relating to food waste.

The planned consultation on the range of commitments identified in the Food Waste Reduction Action Plan has been delayed by a number of factors, including the recent Covid-19 crisis.

We are developing a Routemap to deliver our ambitious 2025 waste and recycling targets which will inform the development of the new Circular Economy Bill and there will also be further engagement and consultation to shape the Bill’s contents. A review of the rural exemption for food waste will be considered as part of this.

In 2016, SEPA developed and implemented an automated tool to capture and summarise commercial and industrial waste data from data returns. This automation reduces errors and allows revision of historical data to account for resubmissions of data more easily.

We are working with SEPA and other governments and regulators in the UK to develop and implement an electronic waste tracking system. This will provide a step change in the quality and timeliness of waste data. A joint consultation on the implementation of a mandatory electronic waste tracking system is planned for autumn on behalf of all four nations of the UK.

This information is publically available through the SEPA Recyclate Quality Reporting Tool, which can be accessed here: https://informatics.sepa.org.uk/RecyclateQuality/

The tool presents data from samples taken from material streams entering and exiting material recovery facilities (MFRs). The tool reports the percentage of materials collected that are considered to be ‘target’ materials for recycling.

In April 2019, we published the Waste Markets Study which assessed the treatment options for Scottish biodegradable municipal waste. The study is available here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/waste-markets-study-full-report/

We have also commissioned work to assess the residual waste treatment capacity needs up to 2025, in light of our commitment to end the practice of landfilling biodegradable municipal waste by 2025. This work is ongoing and we will publish it in due course.

This information is publically available through the SEPA Waste Discover Data Tool: https://informatics.sepa.org.uk/WasteAllSources/

A full update on progress towards our target of a 33% reduction in food waste by 2025 will be provided in the upcoming review of Scotland’s Food Waste Reduction Action Plan. A detailed analysis on the composition of residual waste is currently being undertaken and will form part of this review, due in Spring 2022.

In addition, we are developing a Routemap to deliver our ambitious 2025 waste and recycling targets which will inform the development of the new Circular Economy Bill. There will also be further engagement and consultation to shape the Bill’s contents.

2019/2020 identified savings were as follows:

Participation rate information for businesses in Scotland is not available centrally and local councils should be approached in seeking this information.

The latest figures are from September 2015 and can be found in Zero Waste Scotland’s report: How Much Food Waste Is There in Scotland? , published in 2016, showing that over 1.5 million Scottish households had access to food waste collection.