This is UNISON’s submission to the Scottish Parliament Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee’s call for views as part of its Stage 1 consideration of the Circular Economy (Scotland) Bill.
UNISON joined with many other organisations in August 2019 in calling for a Circular Economy Bill to meet the climate emergency. That cross sector coalition argued for a strong Circular Economy Bill which would:
“set ambitious targets for reducing the nation’s material footprint – the amount of stuff which our economy uses… To protect the environment on which we depend, we urgently need to change the ways in which we make and use products and services, using less raw materials and reducing our demand on the planet’s resources.”
We welcome the Scottish Government’s introduction of the Bill, but do not believe it goes far enough in several key areas. There are a number of ways in which we would like to see the Bill improved, including on Fair Work, Just Transition, targets, ethical procurement and more.
We are also concerned about funding for the relevant public services, particularly for local government and the potential for further pressures on waste management workers, unless sufficient resourcing is there for dealing with the increased workload. We make recommendations and set out those concerns in this brief submission.
UNISON is part of the Just Transition Partnership and Stop Climate Chaos Scotland coalition and we support their submissions, available soon on their websites.