Part of the Scottish Governments Zero Waste agenda, the Safeguarding Scotlands Resources programme also hopes to boost competitiveness and produce savings for businesses of almost 3 billion through resource efficiency.
The consultation process, which took place between June and September 2012, asked respondents a range of questions including how businesses could save on resources and what advice waste contractors could offer to realise that goal.
As a result, the government has now built on the Zero Waste Plan by publishing 20 actions to improve resource efficiency and productivity, including development of a public pledge system, construction waste prevention, producer responsibility for managing products at the end of life, and sustainable design.
Commenting on the plan at the Scottish Resources Conference, organised by Zero Waste Scotland today (October 2), Scottish environment secretary Richard Lochhead said: If everyone in the world used the same amount of resources as an average European we would need three planets to sustain us.
The Scottish Government is committed to creating a more productive and circular economy and reduce our dependency on raw materials. We are embarking on the next steps towards being a zero waste nation.
Safeguarding Scotlands Resources is an important step, but its success will depend on how businesses and individuals respond to the challenges we face and the opportunities we want to create. In launching this new programme, we want to galvanise people behind our zero waste vision and to work with us to make it a reality.
Panel2Panel
Mr Lochhead also announced 168,000 in funding for manufacturing firm Panel2Panel, which will help recycle plastic from items such as fridges and yoghurt pots into construction fittings for schools and hospitals. The company will be based in Dalbettie and initially create 25 jobs.
Mr Lochhead explained: The new plan sets out steps to position Scotland becoming a more circular economy in the future by designing new products and business models to eliminate waste and grow the economy opening the potential for an estimated 12,000 new green jobs. The investment support to Panel2Panel is an example of how action like this can help create new jobs in Scotland.
Panel2Panel chief executive officer Andrew Whtiford added: The grant-funding from the Zero Waste Scotland programme allowed us to secure the additional private investment funding required in order to start fulfilling our manufacturing contracts.
Regulations
Scotland is set to be subject to new waste regulations which come into effect on January 1 2014 which will see every business given a legal duty to segregate recyclable materials, including metal, plastic, paper, card and glass, as well as requirements for businesses that produce food waste to have a separate stream for that material.
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