The Reuse Consortium is keen to extend a huge thank you to all of our Consortium members, local authorities and housing associations who signed to show their support for our parent brand Circular Communities Scotland’s ‘Policy Paper for Scotland’s Circular Economy’.

Circular Communities Scotland and Reuse Consortium members welcomed the Scottish Government’s consultation for the Scottish Circular Economy Bill, and called for the bill to be as strong and ambitious as possible.

The policy paper detailed meaningful and concrete policy asks, calling for the bill to include:

  • National reuse targets to help local authorities prioritise reuse over recycling.
  • A statutory agency for the circular economy – a strong public body with responsibility to deliver faster and more ambitious transition to a circular economy.
  • Statutory requirements for reuse facilities to ensure consistent reuse provision across Scotland.
  • Investing in local authority recycling centres to deliver adequate and effective set aside for reuse provision.
  • Investment in reuse and repair projects to grow reuse and repair provision in Scotland.
  • Embrace right to repair to increase the lifespan of products.
  • Extend producer responsibility to engage thoughtfully with re-use activities and practises.
  • Ban unnecessary product destruction to stop waste and provide quality products for reuse organisations.
  • Circular public procurement to embed circular practises into public sector tendering and procurement.
  • Phase out single use products to avoid unnecessary waste.

The Reuse Consortium and our members particularly support circular public procurement, which lies at the heart of the Reuse Consortium’s work, as something our twelve Consortium members and nine local authorities and housing associations show their commitment to every day.

Circular procurement is good for the environment, communities, and council budgets, with every reuse sofa saving approximately 40kg of waste from landfill (equivalent to 88kg of CO2), paying for four hours of employment training for a disadvantaged local person, and saving approximately £100 over buying new.

We were delighted to receive over 100 signatures in support for these policy asks, including for circular public procurement. Circular Communities Scotland added 60 of members names to a letter to Ms. Lorna Slater, Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity, outlining the paper’s asks and encouraging the establishment of a circular economy with bold reuse policies at its heart.

Circular Communities Scotland also hosted three Circular Economy Bill Briefing events for its membership, the first of which was attended by Ms. Slater who heard our members views on the consultation. We also heard speakers from Scottish Government, Friends of the Earth and more as we worked to give our members the change to learn, and receive support and advice for them to make their own individual responses to the consultation, as well as a change to inform or collective response to both the Circular Economy Bill and Waste Route Map consultations.

Circular Communities Scotland is pleased to announce it has submitted its consultation responses, and is looking forward to continuing policy work on behalf of its membership, to help ensure Scotland establishes a meaningful circular economy.

If you’d like to discuss this campaign with us further, email info@circularcommunities.scot.