Guide to preventing, reducing and recycling waste

Policy background for waste reduction

The Scottish Government has set a 2025 target of reducing waste arising by 15% against 2011 levels and recycling 70% of remaining waste, with no more than 5% of remaining waste going to landfill. Food waste should be cut by 33% with all ‘food businesses’ generating more than 5kg being required to recycle their food waste. The government has also developed a legal framework for a deposit return scheme for drinks containers that will go live in 2024.

These targets form part of the Scottish Government’s aim to move towards a ‘circular economy’ where products and materials are kept in use for as long as possible, as opposed to a ‘linear economy’, which is dependent on increasing exploitation of natural resources. A more circular economy has clear environmental benefits as well as potential community, resilience and economic co-benefits.

Support for these regulations is primarily handled by the government’s resource efficiency delivery partner, Zero Waste Scotland, and more detail is provided in the Scottish Government publication ‘Making Things Last: a circular economy strategy for Scotland’. In 2022 a circular economy routemap to 2025 was launched by the Scottish Government, which includes proposals such as a deposit return scheme, single-use plastic charges and food waste prevention targets. Several funds are available through Zero Waste Scotland to support organisations through these plans.

Individuals and organisations are responsible for handling their own waste correctly to contribute to these targets. However, the quantities and qualities of waste produced by the arts and culture sector are highly varied – a large theatre may strike a set with industrial building materials, an arts office may produce a large amount of paper and packaging waste, and an individual maker may have raw material offcuts of no immediate use. Generalisation is difficult, but there are resources and opportunities of specific interest to aspects of the arts and culture sector, which this guide will draw attention to.

Introduction to the waste hierarchy

This guide is laid out according to the principles of the waste hierarchy, which ranks waste management options in order of preference, giving priority to the best environmental outcomes. It’s like the old saying ‘Reduce. Re-use. Recycle.’ (in that order!). We encourage you to consider options in this order when planning your waste management.

• Prevent (or reduce) unnecessary use of resources in the first place.
• Reuse items or allow someone else to reuse them.
• Recycle resources into new items.
• Recover some value from resources through other means.
• Dispose of resources, often to landfill – the last resort.

The first three steps have potential to create a circular economy-style ‘closed loop’ where resources can be continually repurposed, while the last two lead to materials being used up, resulting in further exploitation of natural resources.

Preventing and reducing waste

There can be as much as 10 times more environmental and commercial value gained through waste prevention than can be salvaged through waste recovery, so it is sensible to prioritise this first.

• Consider undertaking a waste audit over a specific timescale to better understand what materials you are wasting and why you are producing the amount of waste you do. Support is available from Zero Waste Scotland for those undertaking this step. It is also possible to get an external consultancy firm to carry out an audit.
• Identify the waste hotspots for your building or organisational practices to find out what to target. Where do you produce the most waste?
• When procuring materials, consider buying more expensive high-quality materials that will last longer, saving money in the long-term.
• Consider buying second hand. You can use Revolve to find certified quality second-hand shops or make use of resources such as the Circular Communities Scotland, Edinburgh Remakery and the Circular Arts Network, or salvage yards to get hold of leftover and sustainably sourced materials. Music Broth in Glasgow has a library of second-hand musical instruments and equipment.
• Use digital or creative marketing methods to cut down on your use of paper, use ‘e-ticketing’, or see if you can ‘go paperless’ in offices.
• Build waste prevention principles into your procurement policy if you have one (eg don’t buy things on repeat order or subscription, but only when the need arises)
• You can apply to the Circular Textiles Fund or Recycling Improvement Fund for funding to carry out waste prevention measures within your processes or do some free online training.

Case Study: Edinburgh International Book Festival

The Edinburgh International Book Festival developed a list of questions to be considered when procuring goods and services for their events, aiming to ensure the quality and sustainability of the materials, ultimately leading to less waste. These questions include:

• Is the item made of a biodegradable or recycled materials?
• Could this item be hired or borrowed, rather than purchased?
• Can any packaging be returned to the supplier? If not, can it be recycled?
• Can any unused items be returned?

The festival also requested a copy of an environmental policy from all suppliers and, if they didn’t have one, sent a copy of the festival’s own policy as a potential starting point to create one.

How to reuse waste

If certain materials are ultimately necessary for you to undertake your activities, the consumption of them might be unavoidable. However, you can still seek to reuse the materials rather than disposing of them.

Internal reuse

It is often possible to embed reuse into your daily activities, depending on what kind of space you operate in:

• In office spaces, you can refill printer cartridges instead of buying new ones, and reuse envelopes and packaging by completely covering the previous address and postage. Repair and reuse computers and other electronics, which tend to involve rarer and more polluting materials.
• For catering, you can replace disposable crockery and cutlery with reusable equivalents or re-integrate unused food into other dishes such as soups.
• In bathrooms, you can divert sink water to toilet cisterns.
• Theatre sets can be creatively designed to allow materials to be reused in future productions. You can also use Reset Scenery or Set Exchange to offer or obtain resources.
• For those operating temporary venues, organisations like CLUBZERØ and Green Goblet offer reusable and returnable alternatives to disposable plastic cups.
• Make use of social enterprises such as Edinburgh Remakery or SHRUB Coop for support on repairing and reusing resources. These both offer training and workshops as well as offering repairs and second-hand items. The Scottish Institute for Remanufacture also offer support and funding for repair and reuse projects.

External reuse

It is also possible to make connections with other organisations that are likely to be able to reuse your waste products, helping them to prevent waste arising in their work.

• Contact other artistic practitioners who may be able to use your discarded materials – many individual makers or small productions can benefit from small quantities of waste metal, wood and plastics.
• Quite often, it is possible to reuse packaging and packaging offcuts – see if your supplier can take back packaging they use in your deliveries.
• Consider donating unwanted furniture or goods to charity shops or advertising them on websites such as Gumtree, Freecycle or Preloved. You can also donate materials to initiatives such as the Edinburgh Scrap Store or the Fringe Swap Shop. Zero Waste Scotland offer an online Recycling locator tool to find local organisations to donate to.

Case Study: Reset Scenery

Reset Scenery is a not-for-profit company based in Glasgow that facilitates the reuse of unwanted theatre sets, props and furniture, promotes sustainable construction methods and provides sector-specific recycling. You can read a detailed case study from them on our website. [ADD LINK]

Information on recycling

The Scottish Government objectives for waste concentrate on the preference of high-quality material reuse and recycling, which maintains the value of resources for as long as possible. This means recycling materials into a new product of similar function, allowing them to be continually (potentially indefinitely) recycled. For example, a glass bottle or aluminium could be recycled into another glass bottle or aluminium can rather than a lower quality product. Reuse is still preferable, as recycling processes do consume energy and can involve some emissions.

Maintaining this circular approach is dependent on avoiding contamination in recycling, especially between ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ waste. Mixed dry recycling can be separated out later if need be, but if dry recycling is contaminated with food waste, it may mean that the whole batch must be rejected and sent to landfill. Frequently occurring problems include food containers not being washed out or cardboard contaminated with grease from food still being put in recycling.

Organisations are required to:

• Present glass, metal, plastic, paper and card (including cardboard), ideally for separate collection, although mixed ‘dry’ recycling is acceptable. If you produce more than 5kg of food waste per week, this must be presented for separate collection.
• Store the waste carefully while you hold it to avoid contamination.
• Ensure your waste is collected by someone authorised to receive it, such as a registered waste carrier or waste manager with the relevant authorisation.
• Ensure that the collection is recorded with an accurate waste transfer note (see below) to provide for safe handling, transport, treatment, recovery or disposal by subsequent holders.

Different local government areas have different regulations about exactly what can and cannot be recycled depending on the facilities that are available locally. Products that display the ‘recycling’ logo are theoretically recyclable but may not be recyclable in your area. This may affect the products you choose to work with. For example, facilities or collections for compostable cups are only available in certain parts of the country, they must be collected separately from other waste and if they are disposed of alongside other waste these may simply be sent to landfill like a traditional plastic cup. Check local council websites for information specific to your area, but check with waste carriers or managers you work with for more specific information. You may also wish to ask your waste contractor to provide you with information on the final destination of the materials you separate for recycling.

Practical tips for closed loop recycling

• Separate all recyclables from the start rather than sorting them later.
• Put up clear signage to show what is appropriate for each bin. Consider having a bin for ‘unknown’ recyclables to prevent contamination.
• Use clear bags to identify contamination easily. Some waste companies provide these.
• Talk to your suppliers and contractors to ensure that the waste hierarchy is maintained throughout the supply chain.
• Work with neighbours or other tenants in your building to negotiate waste storage and potential collaboration, as clients of waste contractors get a better deal.
• Offer staff training to make sure it is clear what can and cannot be recycled.
• Operate an ‘if in doubt, leave it out’ policy to avoid contamination.
• Make use of specialist recycling options for particular products, such as the not-for-profit Move On Wood Recycling for wood.
• Zero Waste Scotland offers a series of articles on what to do with certain tricky items, while companies like TerraCycle specialise in recycling items that may not be recyclable elsewhere.

Waste transfer notes

Waste transfer notes (WTNs) are documents that detail the transfer of waste from one person to another. WTNs ensure that there is a clear trail from when waste is produced until it is dealt with. You should keep copies of all your WTNs for at least two years.

A waste transfer note must contain:

• A description of the waste
• Any processes the waste has been through
• How the waste is contained or packaged
• The quantity of the waste
• The place, date and time of transfer
• The name and address of both parties
• Details of the permit, license or exemption of the person receiving the waste
• The appropriate European Waste Catalogue (EWC) code for your waste
• The Standard Industry Code (SIC) of your business

It is also possible to use a ‘season ticket‘ system for waste of the same description which is transferred to the same collector for a period up to 12 months, which can save you time. There is no standard WTN and many waste carriers produce their own versions, but NetRegs provide a template (opens a PDF) that can be downloaded and edited. Provided all the required information is contained on it and both parties have signed it, an invoice can also be used as a WTN.

Case Study: Edinburgh International Festival

The Edinburgh International Festival office, based in The Hub, realised they were paying for an unnecessary number of weekly pick-ups which were only appropriate for the busiest time of the year in August. They lowered their number of pick-ups by a third throughout the rest of the year – making significant financial savings of £2400 per annum. They also undertook simple actions to reduce their waste outputs including removing desk bins, introducing food recycling and monitoring waste outputs.

Recovering value

This is a remaining means of diverting waste from landfill, if it cannot be recycled, or potentially has not been sorted. This often involves incineration for energy generation.

Recovering value might also take the form of ‘down-cycling’ by recycling material into a lower quality product. This is currently the case for many plastics, which tend to become degraded in the process of recycling, preventing them from being continuously recycled in a closed loop. This can still be used to produce useful products however, such as insulation or fabrics.

Some opportunities to recover value from materials might occur in your own workplace, such as:

• Initiatives like Ecobricks for repurposing plastic packaging
• Green Arts Initiative member Eco Drama’s van run on cooking oil

Case Study: Assembly

Assembly festival took responsibility for food vans operating in their temporary venues, meaning they could ensure food waste recycling was in place. They recycled used cooking oil through Olecco, who recycled the oil to biodiesel and paid Assembly £10 for every 100 litres.

Disposal of waste

Landfill is the dominant end location of non-recyclable materials in the UK. As population and waste production grows, landfill sites are becoming less available and their negative environmental impact is becoming more visible. Rotting waste produces methane, a greenhouse gas that is both potentially explosive, requiring venting pipes to prevent build up and fire, and a major contributor to climate change, being at least 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

The waste material can also act as a catch for rainwater, resulting in water course pollution and the release of metal, biological and chemical compounds and microplastics into the land, rivers and seas. Landfills exist over an extremely long timeframe. Much of the material in landfill is robust enough to have been recycled (up to 60% of material sent to landfill could be recycled) and can take hundreds of years to degrade.

Further help and resources

• The Zero Waste Scotland website offers detailed advice as well as funding opportunities.
• The Scottish Government guide for waste producers gives information on your responsibilities.
• Julie’s Bicycle sustainable procurement guide gives detailed advice on how to prevent waste arising.
• Craft Scotland has advice on ways to be more sustainable in your craft.
• Get in touch! Contact our Environmental Reporting and Data Manager Matthew Belsey. for some feedback and we’ll see how we can help.