Every year over 64,000 tonnes of plastic food packaging and plastic bottles is sent to landfill in Scotland, costing £11 million each year.
Scottish households on average are binning 27kg of food and drink plastic that could be put into relevant recycling bins and worth £5.7 million if recycled, but instead costs Scotland, and the relevant local authorities, an estimated £5.3 million to send to landfill.
Zero Waste Scotland released these figures on World Environment Day, (Tuesday 5th June), a global day focussed on beating plastic pollution.
Scotland has committed to phase out the use of non-recyclable plastics and is currently designing a deposit return scheme for drinks packaging that could see recycling rates of more than 90 per cent.
Roseanna Cunningham, Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, said: “This year alone the Scottish Government has announced plans to ban plastic-stemmed cotton buds and will shortly be banning rinse-off personal care products containing plastic microbeads as part of Scotland, and the EU’s, vision to reduce single-use plastics and ensure any single-use plastics are easily recyclable by 2030.”
Iain Gulland, Chief Executive, Zero Waste Scotland, added: “There’s an enormous opportunity to turn single-use plastic bottles into a valuable resource if placed in the correct recycling bins. This simple step not only saves the environment, it saves council tax funds and generates money for your local authority area.”