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The UK Government undertakes scoping assessments prior to negotiations, and impact assessments on completion of an FTA, which detail the likely economic, social and environmental impacts of a new FTA. Those consider opportunities for increased trade in environmental goods and impacts on trade with third countries.

In our engagement with the UK Government on all trade negotiations, the Scottish Government has consistently requested more detailed assessments of the economic impacts on Scotland. We believe that before embarking on the negotiation of such agreements, the UK Government should be fully aware of their likely impacts across all parts of the UK. Net zero and environmental commitments should be a core part of scoping and impact assessments.

We have noted the recommendations in the SAWC report and are giving them careful consideration.

The Scottish Government recognises the importance of developing a circular economy for electric vehicle batteries and supported Zero Waste Scotland in commissioning research which indicated that by 2030 there could be up to 16,000 tonnes of vehicle batteries in Scotland potentially available for reuse, remanufacturing or recycling.

However, current UK and European Union legislation dictates that the battery manufacturer remains responsible for the collection, recycling and disposal of the battery.

Scottish Enterprise are currently progressing enquiries from businesses in the electric vehicle and battery preprocessing sector which may be suitable to invest and locate in Scotland. Scottish Enterprise are work closely with each company in order to maximise Scotland’s ability to take advantage of emerging market opportunities in this sector.

Local authorities are responsible for decisions relating to the operation and delivery of waste management in their area. This means that local authorities operate different systems of waste separation, making local authorities themselves best placed to inform and educate residents on the systems and services available to them locally and any separation required.

The Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 set out that Scotland will move from a voluntary to a statutory household recycling Code of Practice to deliver better and more consistent recycling services. A benefit of the increased standardisation across Scotland would be to enable effective national communications on waste separation best practice.

Due to the nature of the projects RIF has supported and the timescales for waste data reporting there is a lag between projects being completed and impact data being available.

The Scottish Government does not hold data on the number of employees in waste collection and management in each local authority area.

The following table provides the full list of projects funded through the Recycling Improvement Fund with a breakdown of the projected tonnage and funding allocated to each project, for which tonnage increase is a direct impact. N/A indicates projects where recycling tonnage impacts are indirect to the project e.g. in-cab technology for drivers.

Over the past five years, there have been four fires at a battery recycling centre, six at electronic recycling centres, and thirty nine at conventional recycling centres for a total of forty three fires overall.

The following table breaks down these incidents by centre type and year:

Zero Waste Scotland is currently conducting research on soft plastic recycling to understand collection and processing opportunities. The outputs of this research are expected to be available in the summer of 2025.

The Scottish Government’s Circular Economy & Waste Route Map and 2020 Climate Change Plan update included our commitment to consult on the separate collection of textile waste from households. A consultation was launched on 25 March 2025:

The consultation will provide evidence and views on how we can prevent textiles becoming waste through more recycling and reuse, including through kerbside collection or measures at Household Waste Recycling Centres. The findings will inform the co-design of the new household recycling Code of Practice and be subject to further policy development with local government and other waste sector stakeholders.

Zero Waste Scotland began research on product stewardship considerations for textiles in Scotland in 2023. The final report will be published in 2025 and will provide a detailed view of textiles material flow across the Scottish value chain, stakeholder insights to required policy interventions and analysis of potential measures that take account of practicality, feasibility and impact.

WRAP is taking action to transform the way that textiles and clothing are bought, used and re-used. They are working with leaders in the UK and globally to develop, share and scale new processes.