Public Servant Lifestyle

A plan has been proposed to cut the amount of household waste generated in Scotland by a quarter of a million tonnes.

Over the next three years, the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) will work with a range of bodies such as the Waste and Resources Action Programme, to halt and reverse the current trend of rising household waste.

Key points from the Household Waste Prevention Action Plan include:

Reducing food waste by 35,000 tonnes through better awareness, packaging and marketing

Cutting unwanted mail by 10% (saving 18,000 tonnes)

Reusing more of the products we throw away (saving 34,000 tonnes)

Reducing excess packaging and developing lighter packaging (saving 62,000 tonnes)

Encouraging home composting to divert 71,000 more tonnes from landfill

Building sustainable design into products and giving better information on the lifespan of key household products (2,000 tonnes)

SCottish Environment Minister Ross Finnie said: "Scotland squanders too many valuable resources. Every household produces over a tonne of waste per year and that's still growing every year by around 1.5 to 2%. We all need to learn to live within our environmental means.

"People are starting to get that message, and have been enthusiastic about recycling and composting. We now recycle and compost about 25% of our waste, but that too has an economic and environmental cost. We all need to stop producing waste in the first place and stop throwing perfectly good materials into unsustainable landfill.

"The Action Plan sets out how we can tackle that. We will work with retailers, community groups and councils to inform people about how to stop creating rubbish. We also need to look at the products we use in our homes which are more difficult to recycle, and how we can extend the lifespan of those products. That could mean better, more sustainable design or allowing someone else to reuse.

"This is just the start of a process which will cut a quarter of a million tonnes from landfill. I expect that as people start to realise how they can stop creating rubbish, everyone in Scotland will be able to reduce, reuse and recycle."

Fiona Moriarty, Director of the Scottish Retail Consortium said: "Retailers are already making steps to help householders reduce their waste. They recognise the responsibility they have in this area and are keen to build on the work already underway to reduce food, packaging and other wastes. We look forward to working with the Executive and others in implementing this Action Plan."

Scotland's households currnetly produce around 2.8 million tonnes of waste each year.

More information available in In Your Kitchen, Ideas, Your Home