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There are so many great ideas out there for the New Year.
The Scots know how to Hogmanay – and their government is trying to get them to cut down on waste – and save a few pounds whilst they’re at it.
The BBC reports: here are a few excerpts:
Scots urged to make lifestyle changes to reduce waste
Scots are being urged to make fundamental lifestyle changes after a new study showed very few of the things they consume have been recycled or reused.
A new study commissioned by Zero Waste Scotland called for business models to shift away from selling to more leasing of goods – from cars and furniture to household appliances.
It also suggested shorter journeys for leisure and more home-working, while buying fewer clothes and keeping them longer.
For industry, the Scottish government agency proposes a fundamental re-think of the way products are designed in this country and around the world.
Making old gearboxes as good as new
Forty-five years ago, Mackie Transmission was driven by the incentive of manufacturers and owners to save money. It’s now a flagship for Scotland’s green economy.
When major manufacturers, such as Hyundai or Honda, find gearboxes failing during a car’s warranty period, they send it to the workshop in east Glasgow, where it is thoroughly cleaned and stripped down.
With nearly 30 workers, and an average experience in the firm of more than 20 years, they are expert at identifying problems, re-tooling the equipment, testing it with their own bespoke equipment and sending it back to the manufacturer in better condition than it started.
Lending not buying
Scotland was once a took a world leader lead in public lending libraries for books. It is now part of the move towards lending and leasing for many other items.
Major firms, such as John Lewis, are shifting from a conventional model of selling goods to offering services around goods, including the lease of clothes and furniture.
Cars are much more often leased than owned, and there has been growth in car clubs, for short-term rental.
“Sharing libraries are much like book libraries, but for lending objects across Scotland – tools, music instruments, toys. They’re great for the planet and for people. They mean people can borrow rather than buy, which massively reduces our consumption and environmental impact, reducing what gets discarded and goes to waste.”
What is a Circular Economy?
Proposals for the Circular Economy Bill focus where legislation could make a difference include setting statutory targets for reducing waste and setting up a circular economy agency. It is proposed that businesses are required to publish their data on disposal of some materials and unsold stock.
France has introduced such a ban on companies destroying clothes, cosmetics, hygiene products, electrical items and other unsold or returned items. Rather than landfill or incinerate unsold goods, companies have to reuse, donate or recycle their unsold products.
Carbon footprint
The Zero Waste Scotland study looks at several measures of Scotland’s footprint on the environment.
Several options for going further and meeting the challenge on a bigger scale are put forward in the report, including:
- A circular food system – in which there is less waste from buying too much, and waste food is processed for energy: less eating of meat, and more use of seasonal and local food production.
- Circular manufacturing – in which goods use fewer raw materials, and are designed to be used for longer, to be dismantled and more easily mended, and given a new purpose or broken up for recycling.
- The transport sector shifting to renewable energy in lighter vehicles: more car sharing, flexible home-working and fewer unnecessary journeys.
- A more circular lifestyle would see people re-using, repairing, donating and recycling: reduced demand for home appliances, leasing instead of owning and using sharing libraries: more local travel and leisure, and reduced use of paper.
- Buying goods made closer to home, while making domestic manufacturing more efficient.
- Improved re-cycling and re-use of equipment reaching the end of its life, particularly in the offshore energy sector.
- More effort to make homes energy efficient, re-using building materials and sourcing closer to home. Better use of buildings, with fewer vacancies and second homes.
The consultancy that drew up the report has calculated following such ideas could raise the extent of Scotland’s circularity nine-fold, from 1.3% to 11.8% of resources.
Scots urged to make lifestyle changes to reduce waste – BBC News