The Geographer: Waste (Autumn 2019)

The

Geographer Autumn 2019

The newsletter of

the Royal Scottish Geographical Society

A Waste of Opportunity?

Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle, Rethink • Greta Gets Geddes Medal

• Walter Stahel and the Circular Economy • Béa Johnson’s Zero Waste Living • Decarbonisation, Data, and Deposit Return • F_MU1: Queen of Elephants • 100 Years of Geography at Aberdeen University • Scottish Resources Conference and Contributions

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.”

New England proverb

p lus news, books, and more…

The

Geographer

waste

B

ack in 2009, I invited the then Chief Executive of the Community Reuse Network for Scotland, Pauline Hinchion, to address the Scottish Parliament’s CrossParty Group on Climate Change which, like this magazine, was focused on waste. She gave a brilliant and passionate speech which totally turned the way I had considered waste on its head.

Like many people in the room, I viewed waste as unwanted – a problem, and a worthless and expensive one at that. But she encouraged us to claim ownership of it, and to recognise it as a resource and a potential asset. Why would we simply dispose of something of value which we had paid to get and which still had a valuable use?

Of course it is better to avoid waste altogether, but it forced me to challenge the way I thought about throwing things away – it is, after all, just so… well, wasteful! It wasn’t that I was unaware of reusing, repairing or recycling, but I clearly hadn’t ever considered this radically different mind-set.

There have been huge efforts made to make reuse more fashionable and easier, and councils and waste companies seem to be better at separating and salvaging second-hand goods. But repairing things is often still more difficult than it should be, and is discouraged by manufacturers hell-bent on building in obsolescence. And whilst recycling rates have grown significantly, there is still a great deal more we can do to reduce, reuse and recycle. Perhaps it needs this type of radical change in how we think about waste to truly deliver a zero waste Scotland – in which all resources are valued and nothing is wasted. Making that vision a reality is the mission of Zero Waste Scotland. My thanks to Iain Gulland and Julia Horton of ZWS for their help with this edition of The Geographer.

Mike Robinson, Chief Executive, RSGS The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the RSGS. Cover image: Uwe Baumann from Pixabay Masthead image: © Colin Woolf

Working with Zero Waste Scotland, this edition marks the latest gathering of Scotland’s circular economy community, for the 18th Scottish Resources Conference, in Perth in October. A number of printed copies are available at the conference, at the Zero Waste stand; as ever, we would encourage you to pass your copy on to a friend to enjoy when you are finished, in the interests of minimising waste and maximising readership.

The magazine is also made available online shortly after publication, on the RSGS website (rsgs.org) and on issuu (issuu.com/rsgspubs), so delegates and others can read it without having to rely on the paper version. And if you enjoy reading it, you might like to join RSGS and receive our other excellent quarterly magazines, along with access to nearly 100 talks across Scotland, and to support the work of the charity in influencing policy, promoting education and celebrating inspiration.

RSGS: a better way to see the world

Chris Packham in Perth

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December

BBC TV presenter, naturalist, awardwinning photographer and author Chris Packham is speaking for the RSGS! At 7.30pm on Tuesday 17th December, he will take to the stage at Perth Concert Hall to share his love of nature and wild spaces, and discuss his most recent photographic adventures, in a talk entitled Pictures from the Edge of the World.

It’s set to be a romp through the wild mind of Chris Packham, the man well known for his work on, amongst much else, The Really Wild Show and Springwatch. Tickets are now on sale, with RSGS Members receiving a discounted price of £20. To secure your place, visit www.horsecross.co.uk or call Perth Concert Hall Box Office on 01738 621031.

Honours for RSGS Members We were pleased to see that RSGS Members were amongst those recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2019.

MBEs were awarded to Dr Ann Glen for services to education, railway heritage and the community in Airdrie, and to Angus Pelham Burn for services to the community in Aberdeenshire.

Scottish Environment Act Along with many of Scotland’s major environment and conservation bodies, we recently signed a joint letter calling for legislation to tackle the climate emergency post-Brexit.

The letter detailed how a world rich in nature is the best insurance we have against dangerous climate heating. It also stated, “Everyone has the right to a clean and healthy environment. Nature enriches people’s lives. It cleans our air and water, improves our physical and mental health, underpins Scotland’s global image and exports, and improves the places we live. For all these reasons, we are calling for a Scottish Environment Act that makes Scotland’s vision to be an environmental world leader a reality.”

Nominations needed Over the past 135 years, we have presented Medals, Honorary Fellowships and awards to some of the leading scientists, explorers, communicators, policy-makers and practitioners in history.

Names such as Amundsen, Armstrong and Attenborough immediately spring to mind. To add to this list, we are inviting you to nominate inspiring individuals for our Medals and Awards programme in 2020, recognising and rewarding achievement across the broad discipline of geography. Please visit www.rsgs.org or phone 01738 455050 to find out more.

RSGS, Lord John Murray House, 15-19 North Port, Perth, PH1 5LU tel: 01738 455050 email: enquiries@rsgs.org www.rsgs.org Charity registered in Scotland no SC015599

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Professor Joe Smith FRSGS At a meeting in Perth of the RSGS, the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), the Geographical Association and the Scottish Association of Geography Teachers, we were delighted to present RSGS Honorary Fellowship to Professor Joe Smith. Joe was awarded the honour for his innovative work in environmental and climate change communication, and for his collaborative spirit as the incumbent Chief Executive of RGS. We look forward to working further with Joe in promoting geography and the value of joined-up thinking in tackling the big issues of today.

Lewis Pugh in Perth Aral Sea The United Nations has adopted a resolution to build cooperation with the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (IFAS). Established in 1992, IFAS aims to improve the social, economic and ecological in the basin of the Theresituation arein lo ts world Aral Sea, once the fourth largest lake the of reand asonow ns largely dry. Among the mainto points supof pothe rt oresolution ur workis...“the proposal to consider the possibility of designing a Special UN Programme for the Aral Sea basin, as well as holding relevant consultations with the Executive Committee of IFAS, member states andWe theencourage UN agencies.”

to find out more Thepeople future of farming about the world.

In June, our Chief Executive Mike Robinson was invited to co-chair a new independent We provide intelligent climate change inquiry to commentary on explore how a low-carbon important issues, and landscape can support a help inform good policy. bright future for farming and food. Commenting on the position, he said, “Farming and agriculture have a huge role in delivering a safe climate; our expert panel really well placed to detail both how best to Weare celebrate achieve this and achievements what government and others will need to do inspirational to help support the farming community.” and leadership.

Inspiring People 2019-20 Our talks programme for 2019-20We haspromote the study 2019-2020 been published – and what a treatofwegeography, and the have in store for you! We are thrilledwider to adoption of have some leading practitioners and People joined-up thinking. recognisable faces from the worlds of science communication, exploration, humanitarian aid, photography and www.rsgs.org conservation.

28 Inspiring Speakers • 90 Fascinating Talks • 13 Locations

Inspiring Illustrated Public Talks

© Paul Carter

Nick Baker Self Rewilding

© Adam Hoskins

Inspirational insights into people, places and planet Motivational stories of adventure Expertise on vital current issues

World-renowned endurance swimmer and UN Patron of the Oceans Lewis Pugh FRSGS will be speaking for us in Perth on Thursday 12th September. At the event, he will be presented with our prestigious Park Medal. • 90 Fascinating Talks • 13 Locations 28Mungo Inspiring Speakers

come along!

Widely regarded as one of the world’s most inspiring speakers, Lewis will share his insights on the mind-set, teamwork, and leadership skills necessary for any major undertaking, in a talk entitled Achieving Your Impossible. The most crucial success factor, he says, is to have a driving purpose, which for him is to protect our planet’s threatened oceans.

Tickets for this inspiring one-off event are only £5-£15: visit www.horsecross.co.uk or call Perth Concert Hall Box Office on 01738 621031.

Arise Sir Michael In June, a geographer – Prince William, Duke of Cambridge – knighted a fellow geographer, Sir Michael Palin, for services to travel, culture and geography. Commenting on the discussion that was had between himself and the Duke of Cambridge, the RSGS Livingstone Medallist said, “He talked about where I was going next, and parts of the world I wanted to go I hadn’t already – to which I normally say Middlesbrough.” On this occasion, however, Sir Michael played safe and instead named Kazakhstan.

For our printed Fordetails, a small please charity, see we deliver programme (sent all up-to-date Members with and our a huge amount!

To to keep available from RSGS HQ and Local latest news, please join us, follow us on social media or sign Groups), follow us on social media using up to our monthly email newsletter. #InspiringPeople, or visit www.rsgs.org.

OP TO EV EN ERYO NE FR RSGS EE FOR MEMB ERS COME AND JOIN US!

Selina Hales FRSGS A Rare and Unexpected Act of Humanity

September

Over 32 years, Lewis has pioneered swims in some of the world’s most delicate and dangerous bodies of water to campaign for their protection – and always wearing just speedos, goggles and a swim cap! In 2007, in saltwater temperatures of -1.7°C, he became the first person to swim across the North Pole. In 2010 he swam across one of the highest glacial lakes in the world beneath the summit of Mount Everest. And in 2018 he completed a swim traverse of the length of the English Channel.

Follow u s!

Sean Conway Endurance Adventures: First, Furthest and Fastest

12th

Image © Emily Mcinnes

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We are grateful to our corporate benefactors for their support

For their support, we are extremely grateful to our of our broad charitable work. corporate benefactors: Ordnance Survey, Baillie Gifford, and the Open University in Scotland.

"The best national talks programme in Scotland"

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Awesome Arctic

Cultural Exchange in Greenland

In July, we enjoyed an informative sell-out office talk by Dr Sandra Angers-Blondin, who shared stories from her ecological and photographic work on Qikiqtaruk (Herschel Island) in the Canadian Arctic. A recent PhD graduate from Edinburgh University, Sandra received a Royal Photographic Society grant to support this stunning image-led research.

Hazel Robertson, RSGS Explorer-in-Residence This July brought together the three RSGS Explorers-inResidence – Craig Mathieson (founder of The Polar Academy), Luke Robertson and me – for the inaugural Polar Academy cultural exchange between Greenlandic and Scottish teenagers. It was based in Tasiilaq, the largest settlement in eastern Greenland.

Debo, Anna and Leah, who only a few weeks before had visited Scotland for the first time, were hosts for Abbie, Lauren, Carla and Hannah from the Lochgelly High School 2018 expedition.

As well as spending time soaking up Greenlandic culture, we undertook an exciting three-day expedition, hiking past glaciers and turquoise blue mountain lakes, wild camping in near-24hour daylight, and even spotting whales on a boat trip. For the Lochgelly girls, the deep blue fjords were a world away from the frozen fjords they had skied across the year before.

Preparations were also carried out for the next Polar Academy ski expedition in April 2020, which will involve pupils from Bell Baxter High School. Building on the success of this summer’s Greenland trip, planning is already underway for next year’s Cultural Exchange, with members from this year’s Bathgate Academy expedition team.

Franky the flying Frenchman Blog spot Our website blog is regularly updated with stories from our archive, opinion pieces and news. Recently, we have posted several gripping articles from our Writer-in-Residence Jo Woolf, covering the Moon Landing, Neil Armstrong, and his connection to RSGS, and Sir Ernest Shackleton’s triumphant return from the Nimrod expedition in 1909. We have also published reflections by our Chief Executive Mike Robinson on ten years since the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, and the recent RSE Peter Wilson Lecture at which he spoke.

Please visit www.rsgs.org to discover more.

Playground Maps

Flying across the English Channel has always been of interest to adventurers and eccentrics. The first crossing by air took place in 1785 in a hot air balloon, and since then the feat has been achieved using a human-powered aircraft, a squirrel suit and a flying car.

Now, Frenchman Franky Zapata © Zapata has covered the 22-mile Strait of Dover on a jet-powered flyboard. Reaching speeds of up to 106mph, and taking just 22 minutes, the inventor said of the journey, “Whether this is a historic event or not, I’m not the one to decide that; time will tell.”

Do you know a school with a boring concrete playground?

Does it need brightening up with a fantastic, interactive map? If the answer to these questions is a resounding ‘yes’, then we can help! For several years, we have been supplying accurate maps of the world – or of Scotland – to primary and secondary schools across the country. And our artist, Cat MacKay, is keen to paint more, just like this excellent green example recently completed at Kettins Primary. Please contact enquiries@rsgs.org for more information.

Buy an inspiring gift that lasts all year.

RSGS Gift Membership makes an excellent Christmas present for friends or family.

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Great British Beach Clean

20th-23rd September

The Marine Conservation Society is looking for volunteers who are free between 20th and 23rd September to take part in the biggest Scotland-wide beach clean and litter survey. Now in its 26th year, the Great British Beach Clean sees thousands of volunteers heading to their local beach to clean it and to survey the type and amount of litter turning up. This data has been used to help change policy, like the 5p carrier bag charge and commitments from the Scottish Government to ban plastic-stemmed cotton buds and introduce a deposit return scheme. Last year, nearly 3,000 amazing volunteers worked on over 130 beaches across Scotland to remove and record over 75,000 items of litter! If you can help this year, please head to www.mcsuk.org/GreatBritishBeachClean – together we will stop the plastic tide!

get involved!

Geography Day In mid-June, we held our annual Geography Day to celebrate the very best of the subject we love. And it was another sell-out event!

We heard from a young expedition filmmaker, Eilidh Munro; the highly-skilled staff photographer for Scottish Natural Heritage, Lorne Gill; our wonderful Writer-in-Residence, Jo Woolf; and our knowledgeable in-house Collections Team. Thanks to everyone who helped make this excellent event happen: our volunteers, our speakers, and our Members and supporters for engaging with our charitable work.

Is there space in your diary? year marks the 50th come This anniversaries of two along! apparently unrelated events: humanity’s first landing on the Moon, and the founding of The Open University. In fact, they’re closely linked, with the OU’s space science programme deeply involved in answering questions raised by that first visit, and in planning for the next one.

Recent polling in Glasgow revealed that only 19% of people currently own a reusable cup, and only around 5% use one regularly, writes Georgina Massouraki of Keep Scotland Beautiful. The net effect is that an estimated 95 million single-use cups are bought in the greater Glasgow area each year. Cup Movement is working with the city to transform its relationship with single-use cups; from incentives and disincentives to cup-deposit or sharing schemes, to engaging across the board with supply chain companies, coffee retailers and consumers alike.

Visit www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/cups to find out more about this innovative, collaborative project.

waste

Glasgow Cup Movement

1969 and all that, a lecture by Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary and Space Science, will be just one part of a programme of science events held by the OU at Edinburgh’s Dynamic Earth during 14th-16th October. Professor Mark Brandon, Dr Phillip Sexton, Dr Miranda Dyson and Dr Pallavi Anand will also give an insight into the award-winning OU/ BBC TV smash hit Blue Planet II, as they talk about the Science behind the Blue Planet, chaired by RSGS President Professor Iain Stewart. th th

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Throughout the days there will be a series of October fun and informative hands-on activities and experiments for all the family. Plan your October week now, and find out more at www.open.ac.uk/scotland/events.

Ordering is easy. Email or phone today!

Simply contact us on enquiries@rsgs.org or 01738 455050.

Please order by 30th November if possible.

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Ordnance Survey history and interests to the fore!

Margaret Wilkes FRSGS, RSGS Collections Committee Chair Twelve members of the Charles Close Society for the Study of Ordnance Survey Maps (CCS) visited RSGS in June, and were greeted fittingly by Andrew Cook and Margaret Wilkes of RSGS’s Collections Team, being two of the original 16 co-founders of CCS in 1980.

To tempt our guests, an eye-watering display of items germane to OS-associated interests was laid out over two rooms, several being recent gifts, including a Germanproduced map sheet of Edinburgh from the WWII period, copied from OS maps but with some subtle changes. This entered RSGS the week before amongst maps bequeathed to the Society by the late Iain Rankin, former Council Member and long-term Chair of RSGS Aberdeen Group.

A final highlight was the splendid map of St Kilda, at a scale of six inches to one mile, printed by OS in 1928 – an initiative

by John Mathieson FRSGS, RSGS Gold Medallist, Honorary Map Curator and Librarian, and later Vice-President, whose professional career had been spent in OS. Alongside the map we showed Mathieson’s work-chest, gifted to the Society in 1945 after his death, and displaying his smaller surveying tools and equipment.

We were also delighted that four CCS Members elected to join RSGS before they left.

Online impact Over the last few months, our social media channels have been as busy as ever. Followers on Twitter have just toppled over 6,000, whilst our Facebook page has amassed over 4,000 likes.

Our most impressive single tweet related to Greta Thunberg’s medal presentation which received, on Twitter alone, a staggering 250,000 impressions, 8,500 engagements, 2,500 likes and 437 retweets. In other words, our charitable work is naturally reaching a bigger and more diverse audience than ever before, and we remain positive that this will convert into even more committed support and engagement over time.

Sunset swim

Each week, BBC News Scotland publishes a selection of their followers’ photographs. In late July, our Chief Executive was pleased to see his photo selected. Taken on a warm night on Clunie Loch, it shows his son Euan jumping in at sunset – not a bad way to unwind after work!

Levenmouth rail link The Levenmouth rail line, which closed in 1969, as featured in the summer 2017 edition of The Geographer, is to reopen.

A new £70m transport project proposal will eventually connect Leven to the Fife Circle and to Edinburgh. Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity Michael Matheson said, “I am extremely pleased that the case has been made, and I look forward to seeing this project being taken forward.”

Scottish life expectancy A National Records of Scotland report has indicated that life expectancy in Scotland is no longer increasing. Registrar General for Scotland Paul Lowe said, “This year’s review shows that there have been changes in Scotland’s life expectancy and mortality trends. Life expectancy in Scotland has been increasing over the long term, but recent estimates indicate that it has stopped improving. The largest causes of the stall in life expectancy are the slowing of improvements seen in the reduction of deaths from heart disease and increases in drug related deaths.” The most recent figures indicate a baby girl born in Scotland can expect to live for 81 years; a boy can expect to live for 77 years.

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Glasgow 2020?

The UK and Italy have lodged a joint bid to host the 2020 UN climate conference, COP26, perhaps the most important gathering on climate change since the Paris Agreement of 2015. The bid proposes that the UK would host the main conference at Glasgow’s Scottish Events Campus (SEC), with a preliminary meeting held in Italy. Up to 30,000 delegates are expected to attend the conference in November 2020.

Greta Thunberg FRSGS, Geddes Environment Medallist

Former energy minister Claire Perry, the UK-nominated president for COP26, said, “As one of the UK’s most sustainable cities, with a record for hosting high-profile international events, Glasgow is the right choice to showcase the UK’s commitment to the environment.” A decision on the location is expected later this year.

Social Bite’s Wee Sleep Out Social Bite is a social business and charity on a mission to end homelessness in Scotland. The bulk of their fundraising comes from ‘Sleep in the Park’ events – and for the second time, there will be the opportunity for young people to get involved through the ‘Wee Sleep Out’ initiative in December. Once signed up, youngsters receive the support and resources necessary to create an event, plus a workshop from the Wee Sleep Out team, all without charge. With a supporting adult, groups of under-18s can decide all aspects of their Wee Sleep Out, including where to hold their event, what activities can take place on the night, who they will include on their team, and how to promote the sleep out. It is a hands-on business experience that both primary and secondary age groups can enjoy. Visit social-bite.co.uk/wee-sleep-out to find out more.

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Alice Thompson FRSGS, Co-Founder of Social Bite, will be speaking in our Inspiring People talks programme in October.

Clean Blue Paros The Greek holiday destination of Paros is seeking to become the first plastic-waste free Mediterranean island.

The initiative involves the local municipality, businesses and NGOs, including Common Seas, founded by Geddes Environment Medallist Jo Royle. Clean Blue Paros will reduce plastic items most commonly found on its beaches and in its seas, by providing alternatives to the most common polluters: plastic coffee cups, straws, water bottles, food containers and bags, while the municipality will separate the collection and aggregation of plastic waste.

© RSGS | Cameron Mackay

In July we presented Greta Thunberg with our charity’s prestigious Geddes Environment Medal. In accepting it, the 16-year-old climate campaigner became the youngest person in our 135-year history to receive an RSGS Medal.

The Geddes Environment Medal is one of our most important awards, offered for an outstanding contribution to conservation and protection of the natural environment and the development of sustainability. It is named in honour of revered Scottish geographer Patrick Geddes, who coined the phrase ‘Think Globally, Act Locally’.

Fittingly given this phrase, Greta received the award for her pioneering development of the Schools Strike for Climate Campaign which has spread to more than 270 cities worldwide – and which began as a solo strike outside the Swedish Parliament in August 2018 – as well as for her inspirational and courageous calls for action on various international platforms. Greta’s example has spearheaded a widespread and deep-rooted demand by our younger generations for a future in which they can believe. Her bold words, whilst challenging to us all, remind us of this urgency and responsibility.

Presenting the Medal on our behalf were three young members of the editorial team of the second edition of the RSGS Young Geographer magazine. Eilidh Watson, Cameron Mackay and Lyndsey Croal enjoyed a three-day journey to Stockholm by train, ferry and bus for the event.

Delighted to receive the honour of the Medal, Greta offered this message. “It is important that we address the climate crisis because we don’t have any other option. My message to young people in Scotland is that we have to realise what is happening and we need to hold older generations accountable. I’ve never heard a child say ‘no, we can’t change this’.”

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Back to the future: coming full circle for sustainability Iain Gulland, Chief Executive, Zero Waste Scotland

For generations the ‘Three Rs’ have been synonymous with the traditional life skills of reading, writing and arithmetic.

Today, while these remain the bedrock of our education, that well-known phrase also sums up what is now arguably the most important lesson that we must all learn, and live by: reduce, reuse, recycle.

Those three words are as simple in essence as they are vital for our collective future on the planet. Together they spell out in priority order the basis of the circular economy which Scotland is switching to: eradicating waste through reducing consumption, reusing products, and repeatedly recycling materials to maximise the benefits from our limited resources.

Increasingly this approach is replacing the old linear model where everyday goods and items are just made, used and binned – with little thought for the consequences. But as we continue to lead the nation’s transition to a truly circular reality, the urgent need to close the loop much faster than we currently are is ever more obvious. For 2019 will be remembered by many unwanted milestones.

this special edition of The Geographer, which is dedicated to reducing waste. While we have begun to act and it is important to celebrate the positive achievements so far, more than ever we are looking ahead at how we go much further, faster.

It is worth considering that sometimes the best solution is the simplest one, and the best way to move forward can be to look back to the past. For while the linear economy is undoubtedly outdated, some of the habits, values and skills which we have long since abandoned can be adapted to create a sustainable future. Perhaps the strongest example of this is Scotland’s 5p carrier bag charge.

While the levy is a modern intervention, the behaviour change it sparked marks a clear return to times gone by. Within a year, it reduced our damaging reliance on single-use carriers by 80%, as people went back to the lost custom of bringing their own reusable bags for their shopping, just as their parents and grandparents once did.

“Some of the habits, values and skills which we have long since abandoned can be adapted to create a sustainable future.”

As record temperatures and extreme rainfall were reported in Scotland and around the world, and protestors piled the pressure on governments globally, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned that mounting public anger over “climate inaction” would see politicians kicked out of office. The OECD, which last year forecast that the world’s consumption of raw materials would almost double by 2060 as economies expand and living standards rise, urged leaders to “think big and act bigger” to reverse growing carbon emissions.

The Scottish Government, like others, declared a climate emergency in recognition of the necessity to ramp up our ambition and, crucially, action.

International headlines covered the bleak landmark report warning that a million species on Earth are in danger of becoming extinct, many within decades, as a direct result of what we, as people, do. Unsurprisingly the five worst threats to our diverse flora and fauna include climate change, with the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) report noting that, since 1980, greenhouse gas emissions worldwide have doubled.

Yet as he announced the grim forecast of nature’s deadliest decline in the history of humankind, IPBES chair Sir Robert Watson also repeated the most important message of all: it is not too late to change this and make a difference if we start now at both local and global level.

As Scotland’s circular economy experts gather for our 18th Scottish Resources Conference, we are proud to support

This success illustrates clearly an invaluable feature of human behaviour which can be used again and again to dramatic, positive effect. Studies have consistently shown that if people can see a cost they will seek to avoid it. As we push ahead with the greater action needed to reverse rising global emissions, this natural response can be successfully adapted to tackle other damaging norms in 21stcentury life, like our single-use cup habit which has evolved alongside our love of caffeine and convenience. Selling throwaway cups separately from the coffee or other drinks which they contain could break that habit and significantly increase the number of people switching to reusable cups. In a similar way, letting people know the significant economic and environmental costs of vast amounts of single-use packaging (something we highlighted earlier this year) could radically change people’s shopping choices.

Scotland is rightly world-famous for its iconic landscape and world-leading businesses, and for pioneering the switch to a circular economy. I think we can also be famous for making the circular economy a positive force for change worldwide, because our current system doesn’t just harm Scotland. It also wreaks harm on the other side of the world, as witnessed so graphically on the BBC’s War On Plastic earlier this year.

The latest Scottish Government target for net zero carbon emissions is 2045, and we won’t meet it unless we radically change the way we think about and consume our goods and materials.

Scottish firms around the country are already leading the way with our help to demonstrate how to make a success of circular business models, including refurbishing computers, upcycling furniture, and producing sustainable animal feed

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using waste generated by our world-famous whisky industry.

The reason that many more potential pioneers have yet to follow their lead is that our mindset still does not reflect reality. As long as businesses assume that reducing the cost to the planet means losing profit and increasing costs for them, they will, perhaps understandably, be reluctant to change. It’s easy to feel negative about the task we face and to see it as difficult or impossible, as stopping us from doing what we have grown so used to doing over the generations.

But as we have and will continue to make clear, adopting a circular economy approach can be extremely lucrative financially. We forecast that Scottish businesses in construction, energy, food and drink, and manufacturing, in Tayside and Aberdeenshire alone, including Aberdeen, could reap up to £1 billion from becoming circular.

spend £2.7 billion on outfits this summer which they only planned to wear once. Hiring clothes instead of buying them means people can return something after a single outing in a sustainable, guilt-free way which allows others to wear it in future.

Buying second-hand from the growing number of shops accredited with our Revolve kitemark guaranteeing quality also offers an increasingly popular way to get more variety and more value for money without driving up carbon emissions.

“Adopting a circular economy approach can be extremely lucrative financially.”

Like businesses, consumers too can often feel as though reducing their carbon footprint inevitably means stopping doing a whole raft of things which we all like to do, from what food to eat to where to go on holiday. Scottish communities, like others overseas, are perhaps more aware now than they ever have been before of the damage being done to the planet, and the need for action. But to harness that goodwill we need to shift people’s perception so that it truly reflects the situation and the opportunities that brings.

Take clothing for example. Right now, the hired jeans I wear are a minority fashion choice, as fast fashion dominates the market. A survey this year revealed that Brits were set to

Meanwhile our analysis has already revealed the power which ordinary Scots have to prevent the climate emergency without even leaving home. Food waste recycling has reached record levels, as the 80% of Scottish households which now have council food waste collections put more of their food waste in their dedicated kitchen caddies. As food waste is a greater cause of carbon emissions than plastic short-term, this is welcome progress. We will build on this through the Food Waste Reduction Action Plan which we launched with the Scottish Government in the spring, setting out ways to meet the key environmental target of cutting food waste by one third by 2025.

There is much being done, and much more to do. I will end where I began, closing the loop if you will, by repeating the lesson we really can all live by: reducing, reusing and recycling.

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Circular economies: some international examples Finland

Canada

Kari Herlevi, Project Director, Circular Economy, Sitra

Stephanie Cairns, Director, Circular Economy, Smart Prosperity Institute

The world’s first national roadmap to a circular economy was published in Finland in 2016. Drawn under the guidance of Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, and constructed in close cooperation with government ministries, as well as representatives from the public, private and third sectors, the roadmap describes the vision, strategic goals and concrete actions that can accelerate the transfer to a circular economy and make Finland among the frontrunners in the circular economy by 2025.

The roadmap’s second edition, published this year, places circular economy solutions at the heart of economic growth and competitiveness. Winning solutions are not created by the old way of doing things, but demand diverse cooperation and coordination between different sectors as well as persevering effort and commitment. In addition to high-level strategic objectives, the roadmap gives objectives to four central target groups: government, companies, citizens, and municipalities and cities.

As part of the implementation of the roadmap, Sitra has been co-creating and funding dozens of projects. For example, the Finnish education system is in the process of introducing circular economy perspectives to teaching. Kemi-Tornio’s circular economy industrial park is disseminating its circular model for heavy industry to other parts of Finland through a national network of eco-industrial parks. Sitra has also been involved in the testing of new regional mobility services and the generation of regional, sustainable food systems.

In order to achieve larger societal change it is important that a circular economy is advanced by governments in a coordinated manner and that enough resources are provided to support the change. Since 2017, Sitra has been organising the World Circular Economy Forum. The third forum, held in Helsinki in June 2019, brought together around 2,000 business leaders, policymakers and experts from around the world to share best practices and accelerate the transition to a global circular economy.

In the future, Sitra’s work will continue with an increasingly international focus as the goal for the next project is to scale up fair circular economy solutions globally to tackle global sustainability challenges.

Germany Patrick Lindner, Sustainability Economics and Management (MA), Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg Cities play an important role in the transition to a sustainable society. More than half of the world population lives in cities, and many resources accumulate within their boundaries. In recent years, multiple cities across Europe (eg Amsterdam, Glasgow, Prague) have set up a circular economy roadmap. But what about existing traditional strategies that contribute to a circular economy?

Circular economy practices existed long before the terms ‘zero waste’ or ‘circular economy’ emerged. Two of these practices, reuse and repair, prolong the use phase of a product, and therefore lower consumption and production of new products. With reuse and repair, a product is kept as a whole, therefore demanding a lower technical effort to loop the resources of a product. Both strategies have long been practiced through charity shops or commercial repair businesses, and modern bottom-up practices

Canada’s championing of the G7 Ocean Plastics Charter, just over a year ago, has afforded a critical stepping stone to promote a vision for circular economy for plastics in Canada, and to raise awareness of and collaboration on broader circular economy strategies.

The Circular Economy Leadership Coalition (CELC) was launched in 2018 to bring together leaders from business, NGOs, academia and all levels of government to help make Canada a world leader in building a sustainable, prosperous, zero-waste, low-carbon-emitting, circular economy that benefits the lives of people at home and abroad. It advances this vision by serving as a catalyst, connector and collective voice of Canadian leaders who are taking bold action towards a circular economy, and more specifically to provide related thought leadership, technical expertise, and collaborative platforms for driving innovation. Members include Unilever, Canadian Tire, Loblaw, Walmart, and Ikea; NEI investments; and NGOs and think tanks including Smart Prosperity Institute. The coalition has been focusing on three streams of activities in this fledgling phase.

First, launching a voluntary Canada Plastics Pact (CPP) to support the transformation of Canada’s plastics economy from linear to circular. The CELC is working closely with advisors from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s new Plastics economy team and the UK Plastics Pact in planning this.

Second, assisting the Government of Canada and the Finnish Innovation Fund (Sitra) in designing and delivering the next World Circular Economy Forum which will be held in Canada in fall 2020, and is seen as a catalyst for galvanizing national interest and activity around efforts to advance a circular economy.

These activities are intended to set the stage for the last stream of activity, developing a Canadian Circular Economy Roadmap to guide future innovation, investment, business practice and public policy.

Canada is still at a very early stage in identifying and assembling the expertise and data that will be needed to develop a roadmap.

However, growing awareness of global trends and drivers, and elevated focus on circular plastics strategies, are broadening the constituency for action and engagement. like book-crossing or clothing swaps add to these.

Local authorities and governments must take these practices into account when aiming for the elimination of waste. In Munich, for example, the local waste management utility has set up a secondhand store. What started in an abandoned hall in 2001, reopened in 2016 as Halle 2, a bright and modern second-hand store stocking a variety of goods such as furniture, dishes, CDs, and electrical devices, collected from the municipality-owned recycling stations. Before electrical devices are put on sale, they run through a functionality and safety check operated by social enterprises as partners of the project. The revenues generated at Halle 2 contribute to the operation of the facility.

The example from Munich highlights the role a municipal waste management utility can take: connecting citizens and resource flows with the aim to close loops before waste is generated. Reuse and repair constitute only a tiny share of circular economy. Both strategies are, however, important complementary parts of holistic circular economy or zero waste ambitions of any city.

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Zero waste through Nature’s circularity Walter R Stahel

In Nature, materials at the end of their useful life become food for other organisms – or a hazard, depending on Nature’s absorption capacity. Synthetic materials, however, which are unknown to Nature, need human control and recovery processes within a ‘circular industrial economy’, which is about managing stocks (assets), economics, innovation and competitiveness.

‘Circularity by Nature’ was the dominant principle up to the 1950s. Humankind and Nature lived in a precarious balance, with circularity based on Nature’s carrying capacity being increasingly jeopardised by the effects of concentration and saturation (ammonia from cemeteries in groundwater streams, manure from ‘animal factories’ and phosphorous from washing powder in rivers, CO2 emissions in the atmosphere).

In 1945, the first nuclear bomb started the Anthropocene; scientific man took over the command from Nature, novel energies and synthetic (man-made) materials appeared based on scientific progress in metallurgy (metal alloys, stainless steel), and chemistry (plastics, (agro)chemicals, pharmaceuticals like oestrogen), which are unknown to, and indigestible by, Nature. Society overlooked the control issue involved in this shift of command – the economy now had to take responsibility for end-of-service objects in order to ‘close the loop’ for man-made substances.

“Labour (jobs) should be regarded as the basis for economic growth, instead of considering jobs as the result of economic growth.”

With hindsight, the Anthropocene split circularity into two domains: a biology one of natural stocks and natural wastes, and a technology one of manufactured stocks and wasted resources, such as plastic in the oceans.

The latter, the management of manufactured stocks with a zero waste objective, is the focus of my new book, The Circular Economy – A User’s Guide. The linear industrial economy optimises production up to the point of sale, where ownership and liability are transferred to the buyer-user who is now in full control, before passing the responsibility for the wasted resources to municipalities, which are financed by taxes.

The circular industrial economy thus is also about maintaining value, ownership and liability, with three objectives: • developing solutions to deal with the legacy waste of manufactured objects and materials of the Anthropocene; • correcting the policy command fault of the Anthropocene by introducing an Extended Producer Liability; • developing technologies and processes of a circular chemistry and metallurgy to prevent future legacy wastes.

But the biocycle also needs our attention. Even if wastes from natural sources, such as food, feed, energy and water, remain within Nature’s circularity, there is an increasing number of quasi natural wastes from technical processes ‘mining’ Nature – gene-technology applications, processed food, asbestos and carbon fibres – which may be outside Nature’s absorption capacity.

In addition to wastes, two resources need our special attention.

•W ater: quantitatively because there is no resource that can replace it, and qualitatively because clean water is a necessity for the health and survival of people and animals.

• Labour: because people are not only a renewable resource, but also the only resource with a qualitative edge, which can be greatly improved through education and training but rapidly degrades if unused. Policymakers should thus give preference to the use of labour over all other resources.

This implies that labour (jobs) should be regarded as the basis for economic growth, instead of considering jobs as the result of economic growth; and activities extending the service-life of objects should become the mainstream economy.

There are six major challenges to realise a circular industrial economy.

1. C ARING: motivating owner-users of objects to enjoy the use of, and take care of, their assets (organisations) and belongings (individuals), for as long as possible – the era of ‘R’, of reuse, repair and remanufacture, including the right to repair. Remanufacture, which enables us to achieve objects with a quality ‘better than new’ (better than in manufacturing), is the most labour- and skill-intensive, ecological and profitable solution of the circular industrial economy.

2. S OLVING the problem of the legacy wastes of synthetic materials (alloys, plastics, agrochemicals) – the era of ‘D’, developing processes and technologies of de-bonding or de-linking compound materials to recover atoms and molecules for reuse. The second law of thermodynamics hampers material recovery processes in the era of ‘D’, but not service-life extension in the era of ‘R’.

3. L EGISLATING an Extended Producer Liability for used objects and materials with zero value to society and Nature, and without an ultimate liable owner: he who created the object or material has to pay to solve the problem. It cannot be up to municipalities to pay for problems created by profit-making industrial producers.

4. S PREADING the technical and economic knowledge of the circular economy to all classrooms, boardrooms and parliaments; the technical and economic knowledge lies dormant today, only known to insiders in SMEs, research institutes and fleet managers.

5. D ARING: promote innovation to develop novel materials in new disciplines, such as circular chemistry and circular metallurgy, as well as new types of reusable components and systems solutions, to prevent future legacy wastes.

6. S HARING: a performance economy selling performance (molecules and goods as a service) instead of selling goods, demands a stewardship attitude by producers, owners and users – no sharing without caring. The field of personality psychology may help in tackling the issue of caring!

Walter R Stahel is one of the key thinkers of the circular economy and the founding father of the performance economy.

His latest book, The Circular Economy – A User’s Guide, sums up more than 30 years of research in that field.

10 Autumn 2019

Interview with Béa Johnson Jo Woolf FRSGS, RSGS Writer-in-Residence

The New York Times has called Béa Johnson ‘the priestess of waste-free living’. Using a system which she calls the ‘five Rs’ – refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, rot – she has revolutionised her family’s lifestyle so that their annual output of trash will fit in a pint jar.

Through her bestselling book, Zero Waste Home, she has initiated a global movement, inspiring hundreds of thousands of people to embrace waste-free living. Béa spoke to us about her practical approach to waste and her hopes for the future.

You are inspiring people worldwide to adopt a way of living that is kinder to ourselves and to the environment. How did you first become aware of the need to take action?

some horrible comments. People accused us of depriving our children of a good life, and they said we couldn’t change anything as we were just one family. We’ve proved them wrong; we’ve initiated a global movement. Now there are millions of people doing this around the world. Not only is it changing the way people are living, it is changing the way manufacturers are making their products. Recently, Unilever and Procter & Gamble announced that some of their products would be sold in reusable containers. I never thought I’d see this happening in my lifetime.

In your book, you describe the unexpected health and financial benefits of Zero Waste living.

We noticed huge advantages beyond the obvious environmental ones. We are healthier because we pretty much eliminated all toxic products from our life! For household cleaning we use natural products, including vinegar, which is so versatile. My husband used to have chronic sinus infections, and these have completely gone. I used to get ‘pink eye’ from using store-bought mascara, but now that I make my own mascara I no longer suffer from it.

As for the financial benefits, we are saving 40% on our overall budget. When you buy something that is packaged, at least 15% of the price covers the cost of packaging. For household items, we only buy when something needs to be replaced, and we get many things second-hand. For me, the greatest advantage was finding a simpler life.

Experiences are more valuable than things; we discovered a lifestyle that is based on being instead of having.

In 2006, when we were living in a suburb of San Francisco, we decided to relocate so that we were within walking distance of grocery stores, schools and restaurants. Before buying, we rented an apartment for a year and moved in with the bare essentials while our other belongings were in storage. During that year, we discovered that when you live with less, you have more time to do what is important – more time for friends and family, for picnics and hikes. When we got our things out of storage, we realised that we hadn’t missed 80% of them, and we let them go.

From reading books and watching documentaries on environmental issues, my husband and I began to consider the future that we as parents were creating for our children. I started thinking of ways to reduce our trash, and one day I stumbled upon the term How can we educate our children to care more © Zero Waste Home ‘zero waste’. Back then it was a term used in about waste and pollution… or do you feel we can manufacturing but it was not applied to the home, learn from them? and a lightbulb lit up in my head. We found ideas that we People ask me, how can I inspire my kids to consume less, could see ourselves sticking to for life, and that’s when ‘zero or to buy differently? And I say that if, as parents, you are waste’ became a lifestyle. doing it yourselves, you are teaching that savoir-faire to your What would be your most important tip for someone wishing to children. They may only question it when they leave home take the first steps to a less wasteful lifestyle? and become independent, and have to make decisions for themselves. But I also believe we are seeing a movement The most important step is to refuse what we do not need. among young people because in many cases they are a lot Every time we accept those things, whether it is a plastic bag, more informed than we are. They understand that this is unnecessary packaging or free samples, we are creating a their future. They want to be active, and they are frustrated demand to make more. You’ll be amazed at how much stuff when things don’t move fast enough. At my talks, for you can stop from coming into your home and becoming example, young people will come up and say they have tried your trash problem. It’s not that complicated – you must to introduce new schemes at their school, but have been simply learn to say no. If it feels rude, you can find a polite unsuccessful. They have so much energy – they just need phrase that works for you: for example, ‘No, thanks, I’m a authority. It is important for us to listen to them, as we are minimalist,’ or ‘I have gone paperless,’ or ‘I have enough at talking about their future. home already.’ It may take some practice, but you will find that the giver will respect you.

Many parents with a newborn baby face a dilemma: should they It is easy to feel hopeless about the situation of waste on a global scale. How can one person make a difference?

In 2010, when Zero Waste was first exposed to the mainstream via an article in the New York Times, we had

opt for disposable nappies or reusable towelling ones?

Reusable! Disposable nappies contain so many nasty chemicals; in a few years’ time we may be regretting using them. Once you have bought a stock of reusable nappies you

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can enjoy huge financial savings, and people tell me they save time, too. I have not done it myself, as my kids were older when I began Zero Waste, but if I had a baby today that’s what I would do. If you don’t want to wash them yourself, in the US there are companies which will collect and launder nappies and drop off a clean supply.

Compostable nappies are another option: used ones are collected, taken to a treatment centre for composting, and a fresh supply is dropped off.

These deliveries require energy and transportation, however.

How can we learn from indigenous communities without exploiting them or interfering with their delicate balance of existence?

We may think that there are isolated indigenous people who haven’t come into contact with plastics, but I believe they have all been affected. I have spent time with Mayan communities in South America, who have no means of disposing of plastic; it just lies around and the chickens peck at it. These communities see the US as an example of prosperity, and of course they are trying to emulate it, and I really want to change that. That’s why, starting in September, I’m doing a year-long speaking tour throughout the US, with the intention of making a bigger impact and setting a better example.

“I started thinking of ways to reduce our trash, and one day I stumbled upon the term ‘zero waste’.”

How can we be sure that the tins and plastic that we’re taking to our local recycling plant are actually being recycled?

You can’t! That’s why recycling is fourth on my list of rules. It is better to prevent waste material from coming into your home in the first place. With recycling, there are so many variables that come into play. First of all, for manufacturers to make something that is recyclable, they need to receive those materials, and then they need a market for the recyclable product that they are making. It depends also on encouraging people to recycle, and to do it correctly.

Even the haulier who collects it may not have the answer.

© Stephanie Rausser

© Zero Waste Home

12 Autumn 2019

Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme Jill Farrell, Chief Operating Officer, Zero Waste Scotland

It would be impossible to put a value on Scotland’s natural environment: some things really are priceless. But putting a value on the resources we use could help to protect it.

That is one of the big ideas behind Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme. Under the scheme, people will pay 20p when they buy a drink in a bottle or a can, which they will be able to get back when they return the empty container for recycling.

That 20p will give people an extra incentive to look after our resources and will reap significant rewards for our precious environment.

We have already seen the impact that putting a price on things can have. The introduction of Scotland’s 5p carrier bag charge proved that even a small sum can have a big impact on our behaviour. An estimated 650 million fewer carrier bags were used in the first year alone. Today, taking your own bags with you when you do your shopping has become commonplace once more.

Pretty soon, we will be seeing the power of putting a price on things again, when the national deposit return scheme is introduced. In a few years’ time, we expect that taking your empties back to the shop will be as second nature as carrying reusable bags is today.

natural resources to be extracted. Our analysis has shown that the scheme will reduce Scotland’s impact on the climate emergency by the equivalent of 160,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions each year. To put that in context, that is the same as the carbon impact of 110,000 return flights from Edinburgh to New York.

This isn’t just about recycling though. That 20p will also make people think twice about littering bottles and cans.

Estimates published by Zero Waste Scotland suggest that the scheme could reduce the number of plastic bottles littered in Scotland by a staggering 31,000 every single day. And that is before we take into account the reduction in cans and glass bottles too.

Scotland was the first nation in the UK to publish detailed plans for a deposit return scheme. But while we might be the first here, we are far from first in the world.

As a result, Scotland has been able to draw on lessons learned by countries such as Norway and Germany. We know this scheme works because it has already been proven time and again.

“There are a staggering 1.7 billion plastic, glass and metal drinks containers in circulation in Scotland.”

Of course, the big difference here is that you get your money back. You will be able to return your bottles and cans to anywhere that sells them, so getting your 20p refund will be as easy as buying the drink was in the first place.

Zero Waste Scotland advised the Scottish Government on the design of the recycling scheme and is continuing to support its implementation. Accessibility has been a key consideration throughout. Being able to return a container to wherever sells them will ensure easy access for all, including rural areas and those with limited access to transport.

There are a staggering 1.7 billion plastic, glass and metal drinks containers in circulation in Scotland. Today, the recycling rate is little more than half, but we expect the deposit return scheme to drive that up to 90%. By significantly increasing recycling rates, the scheme will ensure that there is substantially less demand for virgin

This is very much Scotland’s scheme, however. Rather than introducing a carbon copy of another country’s scheme, we designed our own version informed by wide-ranging public consultation and engagement with industry and other stakeholders.

Last year we held events across Scotland to speak to communities about the proposed scheme. Many people were already familiar with the idea, either through using one abroad or due to its similarity to past schemes for recycling milk or fizzy drinks bottles. In the wake of Blue Planet and the steady stream of revelations about just how urgent our climate emergency is, people expect and support action. It became clear that we were pushing against an open door.

We are lucky to live in such a beautiful country. Protecting our nation from litter and the ravages of climate change is a huge task, but Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme shows how putting a clear value on our resources can make a real difference.

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Learning not to waste data Dr Michael Groves, Founder and Chief Executive, Topolytics

In the early 2000s, Europe and the USA were exporting significant quantities of waste plastic, card and paper to China. In 2018, this changed with China’s decision to stop the import of low-quality waste materials, leading to significant diversion to other countries, stockpiling and more landfilling.

These policy changes, alongside well-publicised concerns about climate change and the scourge of ocean plastics, have refocused attention on consumer lifestyles and the ‘throwaway’ society.

The need for a shift from this linear economic model, where we convert natural resources into products that we throw away, to a more circular, regenerative model, is widely acknowledged. Responses include designing products for disassembly, devising new commercial models such as leasing and sharing, or ensuring that waste and by-products are more effectively recycled. In all cases, the need for better data on these materials, products and assets is acknowledged as a key enabler that can inform new circular economy business models.

location fixes and route optimisation to ensure fast and efficient waste collection and movements.

There is growing use of sensors within the waste industry.

For example, local councils are putting sensors into bins that tell them when the bins are full, the so-called internet of bins! While the location of each sensor is mapped, geospatial analysis helps to identify the optimum routes for collection vehicles, reducing time and emissions. Small GPS sensors are also being used to track the movements of the 45 million tonnes of electronic waste (e-waste) produced globally. There are major concerns about where this waste is being moved.

Legitimate e-waste recyclers therefore use the sensors to assure their customers that their electronic goods are being processed responsibly.

Getting to grips with the global waste system, in order to drive efficiencies at scale, is a task taken up by our Scottish start-up, Topolytics. We have built a position in the £1.5 billion global ‘smart waste’ market by ingesting waste data at scale, qualifying and checking this data before applying machine learning and geospatial analytics to generate useful insights and reports. In particular, our WasteMap® platform uses geographical information systems and mapping to analyse and optimise patterns of waste movements and associated mileages, which can be considerable. Topolytics is working with the Ordnance Survey to design a system that can track all waste movements across the UK, on behalf of the UK’s environmental regulators. This collaboration has also generated more effective protocols for dealing with inconsistent addressing data.

“Better data can inform new models of waste management, from materials marketplaces to ‘uberisation’.”

This data required will cover inputs such as raw materials types and characteristics, design processes, product performance and commercial models. It will also have to include the data generated by the $400bn global waste management industry (Allied Market Research, 2018), as it is this industry that currently captures, moves, stores, processes or disposes of the approximately 2.5 million tonnes of urban waste generated globally (rising to 3.4bn tonnes by 2050) (World Bank, 2018). The key problem is that the waste industry has developed around a linear system, it remains quite traditional and is not data driven.

The range and volume of material collected, moved, sold, processed or disposed of by the waste industry generates a significant volume and velocity of data. The waste value chain is also complex and opaque, with many private and public sector players and a significant ‘informal’ sector in certain parts of the world. In the UK, for example, there are 50 million waste transactions per annum, handled by 100,000 registered waste companies, and moved through 100,000 licensed waste sites (DEFRA, 2018). Extend the view globally and this represents a highly complex system of materials measurements and movements – locally, nationally and internationally.

In summary, geospatial technologies are helping to improve manufacturing, logistics, financial services and many other sectors. Waste management and recycling is no exception, and over the next five years we will see such Industry 4.0 innovations changing the sector and driving waste reduction, increasing the utility of this material and accelerating the circular economy.

The diverse nature of licensed waste sites, ancillary sites and the many sources of waste, including companies, public sector bodies and local authorities, makes tracking of material difficult. Add to this the known deficiencies in the way that waste is defined and measured, there is significant scope to apply data science and geospatial analytics to make the waste materials system more effective at recovering the value of this material.

Better data can inform new models of waste management, from materials marketplaces to ‘uberisation’. In the latter case, the customer has a relationship with a technology company or a ‘waste broker’, that does not own any waste transport or processing infrastructure. As with a taxi service, the waste material is picked up, moved, recycled or disposed by third party operators. Such systems require accurate

Michael Groves is a geographer with a PhD in aerial and satellite Earth observation, with over 20 years’ experience in environmental management and sustainability reporting.

Topolytics is a technology company that uses data science and machine learning to maximise the utility of the world’s commercial and industrial waste materials.

14 Autumn 2019

Waste and renewable energy Donald MacBrayne, Scottish Water Horizons

Recently, it seems that hardly a day passes where climate change is not making significant headlines at home and abroad. Whether it’s European heatwaves, flash floods in Edinburgh, or school children protesting outside the Scottish Parliament, it’s very clear that climate change is a serious issue impacting all of our lives.

The good news is that Scotland has made great strides in decarbonising our electricity supply through a range of different renewable energy technologies and a plethora of projects, but transport and heat are significantly more difficult issues to address, with around 50% of Scotland’s energy use and carbon emissions coming from heat.

Scottish Water has been on a journey to reduce carbon emissions whilst keeping costs for customers low. Through their commercial subsidiary, Scottish Water Horizons, they have also played a wider role in helping other public sector organisations cut their costs and carbon. This activity should be seen in the context of the Scottish Government’s Hydro Nation agenda. As a Hydro Nation, Scotland regards water as part of our national identity and recognises that the sustainable management and use of our water resources has a crucial role in developing a flourishing low-carbon economy.

advantage of avoiding landfill disposal which causes harmful environmental emissions. Elsewhere in the UK, other water companies such as Wessex Water and Severn Trent have followed suit, with the latter now running eight food waste digestion plants.

In addition to deploying the century-old technology of AD in new ways, Scottish Water Horizons progressed into the development of renewable heat projects, utilising waste water as a source of renewable energy. In 2015, Scottish Water Horizons worked with SHARC Energy Systems and Borders College to enable Scottish Water to become the first water utility in the UK to deploy heat from waste-water recovery to heat their campus in Galashiels, via technology that utilises heat exchangers and heat pumps to displace fossil fuels.

This project has since been replicated, with heat for space heating and hot water now being delivered into various projects across Scotland. Buildings being served by this innovative approach include Borders College, leisure centres, offices, public buildings and, from 2020, domestic properties. A programme of future projects is in development which will lead to more carbon savings and cost reductions for customers.

“Around 50% of Scotland’s energy use and carbon emissions comes from heat.”

Scottish Water is playing a very active role in supporting the Scottish Government’s Hydro Nation strategy. It has more than doubled its renewables generation capacity since 2013 and achieved a 41% net reduction in CO2 emissions since 2007. Scottish Water also hosts large-scale renewable energy generation on its land, which means more than twice the energy it consumes is produced by renewable energy projects.

Increasingly, Scottish Water is seeking to recover value from waste. One of the ways of doing this is through anaerobic digestion (AD), a treatment technology that has been deployed in the water industry for well over a hundred years. The AD process employs naturally occurring micro-organisms to break down organic matter to produce methane.

This renewable energy, in the form of biogas, can be used to produce heat, electricity and vehicle fuel, and is increasingly injected into the gas grid for wider distribution. Scottish Water utilises AD to treat sewage sludge at a number of locations and Scottish Water Horizons treats food waste at its AD plant in Cumbernauld. Converting food waste into renewable energy also has the

Scottish Water continues to seek ways to recover value from waste with potential recovery of nutrients and cellulose amongst areas of interest. In the meantime, the significant energy potential in sewage sludge and in the waste water itself continues to be realised. This is making significant contributions to Scotland’s renewable energy targets and is a leading example of the Hydro Nation in action. Contact me on Donald.MacBrayne@scottishwaterhorizons.co.uk if you would like to know more.

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Mapping the decarbonisation of Scotland’s energy Allan Crooks, Programme Manager – Energy and Low Carbon Heat, Zero Waste Scotland

Pore over a map of Scotland and the nation’s iconic mountains and lochs are clear to see.

Exploring the landscape in any weather, it is obvious that, as well as great beauty, it holds a valuable source of natural energy which we have exploited for generations. In the 20th century our efforts here focused largely on harnessing rainfall and rivers through hydro schemes, bringing the ‘power from the glens’ into Scottish homes nationwide. Back then, green was still just a colour and ‘low carbon’ was not the commonly used term it has since become. The original driver for developing hydroelectricity was to supply industrial aluminium smelting plants in the Highlands as global demand for the versatile metal soared.

In the 21st century our demand for what is now known as sustainable energy is driven by a growing recognition that we need to decarbonise to maximise the value of our increasingly dwindling resources. Most of the energy used to either warm up or cool down our homes, offices and public buildings is very carbon-intensive, and we use so much of it that heat generates more of Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions than any other form of energy supply. So, it is rightly at the centre of our push towards a low carbon economy.

Working on behalf of the Scottish Government, we have used techniques developed by geographical science to draw up Scotland’s Heat Map, showing where demand for heat for our buildings is greatest. The innovative map also highlights the potential for low carbon sources, including district heating networks, to help meet the government’s aim of reducing Scotland’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2045.

Establishing heat networks is a challenging process, however, and in Scotland they are currently still in the early stages.

The potential for district heating is greatest in urban areas where demand for heat is most concentrated, and buildings and heat sources are in relatively close proximity, making installation of expensive pipework more cost-effective.

One of the first low carbon district heating schemes in Scotland, which we have been advising on, is being developed on the historic site of the former John Brown shipyard on the River Clyde. West Dunbartonshire Council and the developer, Clydeside Regeneration Ltd, are collaborating on the project which will use the river to provide a more sustainable heat supply to a new community of 1,000 homes, alongside several commercial and public buildings.

Over the coming years we expect more such schemes to come to fruition across Scotland. Almost all of the nation’s 32 councils have undergone training to use our national heat map to help them take advantage of the information it contains. We have also created a tool using data from the heat map to allow local authorities to assess the potential for individual district heating schemes in their region.

“The potential for district heating is greatest in urban areas where demand for heat is most concentrated.”

These networks make our energy consumption more sustainable by taking advantage of existing natural and industrial sources of low-level heat, such as rivers, lochs and sewers. While water from these sources is not at anything like the temperature needed for homes and businesses, heat pumps take this valuable residual heat and increase it to the required levels, much like ground source heating. Distributing large volumes of water through insulated pipes maximises the benefits.

Industrial processes across the UK generate enough waste heat to supply every single home in the country using a similar process.

Since 2013 we have been helping a range of organisations to make better use of low carbon heat across Scotland as part of our work through the Scottish Governmentfunded Resource Efficient Scotland programme.

Our Energy and Low Carbon Heat team, including engineers and heat mapping experts, has increasingly been working with councils to develop sustainable heat strategies, including local district heating plans, to find different solutions for their differing needs. Back in the Highlands, where hydro still plays a key role in providing energy, we have found several communities where district heating schemes could work too. In many other places across the mountainous region they would not, however, due to the cost and logistics of installing lengthy pipe networks to connect buildings.

All this information is invaluable as we continue to adapt our growing low carbon heat schemes to the fast-changing political landscape beneath Scotland’s decarbonisation ambitions.

16 Autumn 2019

Storing up a better future through Scotland’s soil Julia Horton, Senior Press Officer, Zero Waste Scotland

“The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”

Those words from former US president Franklin D Roosevelt arguably ring even more true as we seek ways to feed the growing population without literally costing the Earth.

Roosevelt was speaking in the 1930s after years of severe drought and fierce winds turned states across America into a ‘dust bowl’, killing off crops and livestock and forcing farming families across America to abandon their land.

This increase in food waste sent for recycling instead of being dumped in general waste prevented the release of 41,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions into the atmosphere, helping to combat global warming. To put that amount into perspective, it is the equivalent of taking just over 22,000 cars off the UK’s roads for a year.

Today as climate change has become a climate emergency, the rapid explosion in communities worldwide has produced a conundrum with catastrophic consequences if it is not solved: how can we feed ever-increasing numbers of people from ever-reducing amounts of fertile land?

The valuable rise illustrates the impact of a significant increase in council food waste recycling services nationwide, which 80% of Scottish households now have access to. It also shows the power of new waste regulations to help drive change, requiring food producers to present their food waste for separate collection, though much more needs to be done to further reduce this waste and increase recycling.

Such a vast global problem can seem overwhelming and far removed from that tiny food caddy in your kitchen. But people across Scotland are already playing an important part in working solutions to our resources crisis every day without even leaving their homes: by simply putting all their unavoidable food waste into these dedicated bins.

Meanwhile the amount of food waste sent to composting facilities has remained stable at just over 30,000 tonnes per year. While most of Scotland’s compost is used by farms to enrich agricultural land, there has been a significant rise in the amount used for land restoration too (up to almost 61,000 tonnes in 2017).

Zero Waste Scotland recently published two new reports revealing that Scots are recycling more food waste than ever recorded before. Our latest surveys of the Scottish composting and biogas sectors found that 158,500 tonnes of food waste was collected from households and businesses in 2017, up 47,000 tonnes from 2013. That means that the total volume of food waste recycled nationwide, and the associated carbon savings which that brings, leapt by more than 40%.

The benefits to Scotland’s soil from all of this are multiple.

Most food waste which is recycled is sent to anaerobic digestion plants where micro-organisms break it down to produce biogas. This green energy helps the environment by reducing the amount of food which would otherwise be incinerated or sent to landfill. It also helps to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, cutting carbon emissions further.

This can help to break the vicious circle highlighted in a recent UK government-funded study suggesting that soil loses its capacity to store carbon when it dries out, meaning that the worse global warming gets, the harder it will be to combat it through the natural storage of carbon in the ground.

“Breaking down food waste in anaerobic digestion plants also creates a high-quality organic fertiliser.”

Breaking down food waste in anaerobic digestion plants also creates a high-quality organic fertiliser, which can be used to improve soil health directly, reducing farmers’ reliance on conventional chemical alternatives. Composted food and garden waste is excellent for restoring soil health too, helping to conserve our precious land for the future.

All of which demonstrates the value of harnessing the positive flipside of Roosevelt’s dire warning and taking a global outlook for the future: if we protect our soil, we protect our planet.

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Methane, microbes and climate change mitigation Professor Dave Reay, Chair in Carbon Management & Education, University of Edinburgh

In climate change science we have more than our fair share of nightmare scenarios. There’s mass dieback of the Amazon rainforests, and the catastrophic rise in carbon dioxide that would result. There’s collapse of the ice sheets leading to multi-metre rises in global sea levels in our lifetimes. And then there’s methane.

Methane has been a friend of humanity for generations. In the form of natural gas it heats our homes, cooks our dinners and even helps provide the nitrogen fertilisers to grow the food we eat. But it is a powerful greenhouse gas too. Each tonne emitted causes around 30 times more warming than a tonne of carbon dioxide, and since the industrial revolution its concentrations in our atmosphere have more than doubled.

Methane’s very own climate nightmare scenario comes in the form of its concentration rocketing up as the vast stocks locked up in frozen Arctic soils and ocean sediments are released in a bubbling rush of self-reinforcing thaw. Thankfully the risk of this happening in the 21st century appears to be low, yet recent years have seen a worrying uptick in how much is accumulating in our atmosphere. All the big humaninduced sources of methane may be playing a part in this. Escaping gas (called ‘fugitive emissions’) from fracking is certainly an issue, as is the rise in ruminant meat and dairy production around the world – cows and sheep produce and then belch out large amounts of methane.

The good news is that we know how to avoid this. If you’ve ever had the luck to visit a landfill site (honestly, they are fascinating) then you’ll have likely seen pipes emerging from the layer of soil that covers the rubbish. Each pipe is collecting the methane from the decomposing waste underneath. The collected methane can then be burned to produce energy and so substitute fossil fuels – a win-win for our climate. Even better is where the methane-producing potential of the ‘waste’, whether kitchen food scraps, manure or even sewage, is deliberately harnessed.

On an increasing number of farms you can see this methanogen-farming process in action: the manure is collected and digested in closed vats (called ‘anaerobic digestion’) where conditions are ideal to produce methane that can then be used on the farm or fed into the gas supply network. Likewise, our efforts in our homes to segregate food waste are allowing councils to collect and digest this waste to produce gas for heating or electricity. The spread of such improved waste management globally could deliver a cut in methane emissions from landfills by more than 40% in the next decade, instead of the increase that a business-as-usual scenario would suggest.

“Collected methane can be burned to produce energy and so substitute fossil fuels.”

The other big global source of methane is waste. The microbes that produce methane (called methanogens) thrive on it. Whether it’s last month’s banana skin buried in a landfill site, the leftover milk that you poured down the drain, or the manure of the cows down at the dairy, all can provide a rich meal for the methanogens to feast on.

Just as global methane emissions from fossil fuel extraction and livestock production are expected to grow further over the coming decade, so our emissions from waste are set to expand too. Under a ‘business-as-usual’ scenario, global methane emissions from landfills alone will rise to almost 50 million tonnes each year – another chunk of emissions we can ill afford in an already-warming world.

Some are taking things even further. An innovative UK-India company called Carbonlites (carbonlites. com) collects food waste from restaurants and then uses this to create high-grade methane that it sells back to the restaurants to power their cooking stoves. They even produce bottled methane for vehicles, and fertiliser for farmers.

For me, the climate change nightmares won’t go away just yet: we need these kinds of rapid and far-reaching emissions cuts in every part of our lives, and all over the world, if we are to effectively address the climate emergency we are in.

Methane will continue to be a key target for tackling climate change, and rising emissions from a thawing Arctic will remain a threat. If we get it right with the methanogens though – those busy methane-producing microbes – they can be a powerful climate ally instead of a dangerous climate foe.

Professor Reay’s latest book is Climate-Smart Food, available free from www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9783030182052

18 Autumn 2019

Last photographs of the Elephant Queen Will Burrard-Lucas

F_MU1 was an incredible elephant. For more than 60 years, she lived a peaceful life in a quiet corner of Tsavo in Kenya.

When I first saw her I was awestruck, for she had the most amazing tusks I had ever seen. If I hadn’t looked upon her with my own eyes, I might not have believed that such an elephant could exist in our world.

If there were a Queen of Elephants, it would surely have been her.

These are amongst the last images captured of her. Shortly after they were taken, she died of natural causes. She had survived through periods of terrible poaching, and it was a victory that her life was not ended prematurely by a snare, bullet or poisoned arrow.

F_MU1 was an elephant that few people outside Tsavo knew about. Photographing her, in partnership with Tsavo Trust (tsavotrust.org) and Kenya Wildlife Service (www.kws.go.ke), was one of the greatest honours of my career. This is the story of how I came to capture these images.

It was August 2017 and I was embarking on a project that would keep me occupied for the best part of two years, to produce a new coffee table photography book focusing on the elephants of Tsavo.

Shortly after arriving in Kenya, I found myself in a Land Rover with Kyalo, Katana and Christine, from Tsavo Trust’s ‘Tembo 2’ research team. The old vehicle was rattling along a narrow dirt track flanked by thick bush. Circling overhead was Richard Moller, founder of Tsavo Trust, in a small spotter plane. He was on the radio guiding us towards an extraordinary cow elephant known to Tsavo Trust by the code F_MU1.

We had been looking for this elephant for several days, but finding her in a vast wilderness the size of Switzerland had proven difficult. Now Richard had spotted her from the air and we were converging on her position. I had a feeling of great excitement mixed with anxiety that she may yet evade us in the thick vegetation.

Kyalo swung the Land Rover off the dirt track towards the circling aircraft and started weaving left and right as he sought an unobstructed path through the bush. We eventually emerged out into a dusty clearing and Richard’s voice came through on the radio: “She’s heading your way, you should be able to see her.”

Over the bushes I caught a glimpse of an elephant’s back, and seconds later she stepped out into the open. I was speechless.

F_MU1 was skinny and old but she strode forward with stately grace. Her tusks were so long that they scraped the ground in front of her. She was like a relic from a bygone era.

We stayed with her for the rest of the morning and she led

us to a waterhole.

It was the height of a gruelling dry season and many elephants had gathered to delight in the cool water. Some would have trekked so far in search of food that it may have been two or three days since they last drank.

F_MU1 patiently waited her turn at the water. The terrain was flat and open – a perfect opportunity for me to deploy ‘BeetleCam’. With this, I aimed to get ground-level images showing her amazing tusks stretching down towards the camera.

I gradually edged BeetleCam into position in front of her, and she contemplated it benignly. I looked down at the live view on my wireless monitor and had to pinch myself – I could scarcely believe that this photograph was about to

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“She strode forward with stately grace.”

materialise! It was a feeling of privilege and euphoria that will stay with me forever.

With the Tembo 2 team to guide me, I managed to photograph F_MU1 several more times. She always proved to be the most exceptional subject. Her temperament was gentle and calm. Sometimes she would come so close to me that I could have touched her.

The ongoing drought was making life very hard for the elephants, particularly the youngsters and the very old. It was almost certainly a contributing factor in F_MU1’s death a few weeks later. There was little for the elephants to eat except the branches of thorny acacia trees.

To a wildlife photographer, a subject like F_MU1 is incredibly rare; a creature that is unique – possibly the most remarkable

of her kind – and yet an animal that few have photographed before. The time I spent with her was a real privilege. I would like to thank Kenya Wildlife Service, Sony, Chris Gordon, Richard Moller, the Tembo 2 team, and everyone at Tsavo Trust, without whom I never could have captured these images.

Will Burrard-Lucas will be speaking to RSGS audiences in Ayr and Helensburgh in March 2020. These and many more photographs are featured in his new book, Land of Giants (www.landofgiantsbook.com), which includes several of Tsavo’s other iconic tuskers. See back page for details.

20 Autumn 2019

One Planet Prosperity Naomi Ross, National Waste Unit, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)

This year is the earliest that Earth Overshoot Day has ever been. In 1987 the day by which we had used a year’s worth of Earth’s resources was in October; by the turn of the millennium it was in September. In 2019, only a few months after the Scottish Government declared a climate emergency, we entered our ecological overdraft on 29th July. It is clear that, as a planet, we are still moving in the wrong direction.

soiled nappies, dog waste, textiles, baby wipes and nonrecyclable plastics such as crisp or sweet wrappers.

Higher contamination ultimately leads to lower recycling.

It’s harder and more expensive to process, and there are fewer markets for the materials. The likelihood of it being landfilled or incinerated increases, so the public loses confidence and the amount of quality recyclate available decreases.

“The most successful countries in the 21st century will be resourceefficient, circular economies.”

We need to manage our resources within planetary limits and reduce the unprecedented period of resource stress we are experiencing. If we continue the way we have been, we face supply disruptions, volatile prices, accelerated environmental degradation, and increasing tension over access to resources.

To succeed, we need more than small changes. As Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

SEPA’s pioneering regulatory strategy – One Planet Prosperity – supports the Scottish Government’s globally ambitious circular economy strategy, Making Things Last.

We recognise that, while environmental compliance is non-negotiable, climate change, environmental, social and economic success require systemic rather than incremental change.

Waste: a verb, not a noun As a society we have to stop thinking of waste as what we throw away when we’ve used everything we want. We need to recognise the resources we have at the end of a particular process, and find ways not to waste them.

The most successful countries in the 21st century will be resource-efficient, circular economies, keeping materials in use for as long as possible and extracting maximum value from them.

SEPA’s sector plans allow us to see how companies and processes within a sector influence one another. That enables SEPA to help explore opportunities to create unusual partnerships. These will help everyone to achieve real, positive change; joining up the companies producing raw resources, providing energy to run the process, creating packaging, and transporting products. That increases the opportunities to find links – a waste to one operator could be a valuable resource for another.

Cutting contamination For Scotland to be a world leader in resource efficiency and the circular economy, we need to address standardisation, aggregation and material quality, alongside innovation and collaboration. SEPA’s Materials Recovery Code works to highlight the quality of materials processed at Scottish recycling facilities for use in the next generation of goods made here or overseas. The data they provide has shown that around 13% of what is put in a recycling bin shouldn’t be there. Commonly found contaminants include food waste,

SEPA is working in partnership with Scottish Government, Zero Waste Scotland, local authorities and others to take action at all levels of the supply chain. This includes supporting those working to improve product design and labelling, change behaviour, invest in better infrastructure, and create more demand for recycled materials at home.

Scotland as a good global neighbour To be a good global neighbour, Scotland needs to export only high-quality recyclables to other countries to produce new products. Glass, organics, oil and aggregates are all generally recycled within Scotland, because there are already existing markets.

Recent market changes, as China and other Asian countries have cracked down on low-quality waste imports, are focusing minds on what needs to be done to develop more resilient domestic infrastructure, with less reliance on overseas markets. While these market changes have had a positive impact on the quality of material exported, SEPA still routinely stops containers of waste unsuitable for export.

Scotland’s waste exports are regulated using a supply chain approach. SEPA’s trans-frontier shipment team takes a robust intelligence-based approach, following materials from their creation to the final destination, and works with the industry to improve practice. Not only is exporting highly-contaminated low-quality waste illegal, but it places an unacceptable environmental burden on the receiving countries.

Changes on the horizon Looking forward, SEPA anticipates the following new areas of legislation will support Scotland’s ambitious vision of a circular economy society and may have a direct impact on our regulatory role in the plastic supply chain: Scotland’s deposit return scheme; UK reform of producer responsibility; UK plastic packaging tax; and the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive.

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Technology and system innovation in plastics recycling John Ferguson, Head of Strategy, Binn Ecopark

From littering and the consequences of burning plastics to the catastrophic effects we see in our marine ecosystems, no-one can be unaware of the conflicting impact of global plastic use. And yet plastic is a material that in so many ways enriches all of our lives on a daily basis. The fault is not plastic, but that of a wasteful, careless global society, oblivious to the consequences of its increasing and frequently unnecessary consumption.

Every year the global economy generates over 300 million tonnes of new plastic products. The annual global recycling rate for plastics remains under 15%. This level of unrecyclable plastics represents a massive imbalance and a global failure in the valorisation of waste plastic.

Pi Polymer Recycling Ltd were awarded a £570,000 grant to develop a new plastics recycling innovation in Tayside (Project Beacon) at the Binn Ecopark near Glenfarg in Tayside. This new system uses a global-first optical sorting system to separate whole large rigid plastics (think crates, broken toys, large containers, plastic pipe, etc) into different polymer streams, then shreds, granulates and washes these plastics ready for pelletising. It will be the first plant in the UK to recycle this undervalued group of waste plastics from waste to finished material. A project developed by Swindon-based Recycling Technologies, also grant-aided by Zero Waste Scotland, will convert unrecyclable plastics into chemical feed stocks for the refining sector. This allows complex mixes of plastics, which cannot be separated for mechanical recycling, including laminated plastic products, to be converted back into useful petrochemical-based products. The Pi system will process up to 10,000 tonnes of material per annum, and the Recycling Technology system circa 7,000 tonnes per annum.

“It will be the first plant in the UK to recycle this undervalued group of waste plastics.”

Plastics are a formidable transformative and complex range of polymeric materials, essential to modern life. However, our over-dependence on plastics, resulting from unnecessary uses, notably an over-dependence on single-use plastics, creates a scale of problem that needs concerted global action.

The global supply chain for waste plastics is fragmented and complex. Plastics start their life as a range of pure polymer material. These pure polymers are then modified to provide different characteristics aligned to the needs of the products to be manufactured. Additives can include plasticisers, colouring, stabilisers and fire retardants, to name a few.

Once these products become post-consumer waste, they comprise a complex mix of what are in effect thousands of different materials. Whilst these can frequently be sorted back into their core polymer types, this variance in specific material composition limits the application of these materials for recycling back to new products. In addition, labelling of polymer types is often inadequate, and recycling systems are frequently inconsistent or non-existent. Consumers are more confused by plastics in relation to recycling than any other material.

There is a fundamental global failure in the development of indigenous plastics recycling infrastructure, leading to an over-dependence on export markets. These exports are frequently to countries with inadequate environmental controls for the management of the materials being imported, resulting in often serious environmental and health impacts. Mandating recycled content in plastics manufacturing has been slow. There is an absence of global standardisation in policies and in packaging.

Scotland’s 2010 Zero Waste Plan focused attention on the development of the circular economy and highlighted the action needed to address plastic waste. One consequence of this was the provision of an extensive capital grants scheme administered by Zero Waste Scotland, for the development of new and innovative recycling processes, systems and infrastructure in Scotland.

Extension of this co-located technology project is further supported by an award in the Tay Cities Deal of £5.2 million to promote the development of a new advanced plastics sorting plant to enable all plastic collections from households, commerce and industry. Easing the problem for consumers and producers of plastic waste, by making recycling easier, helps significantly increase the capture rate for waste plastics.

The combination of mechanical and chemical recycling with a new-concept plastics sorting facility will enable a recycling rate of over 80%. It will be the first demonstration of a new innovation Advanced Plastics Recycling Facility (A-PRF) concept with global application potential.

If such technical innovation is supported by a global movement of political, social and commercial actors to reduce plastic use, mandate recycled content in products, align standards in both the use and the recycling of plastics, and invest in infrastructure, we can massively reduce the global environmental impacts and damage to our global ecosystems from our mismanagement of plastics.

John Ferguson, an industrial ecologist focused on resource management and low-carbon clean-tech development, is the originator of the Advanced Plastics Recycling Facility concept under development at the Binn Ecopark.

22 Autumn 2019

Cigarette waste Catherine Gemmell, Scotland Conservation Officer, Marine Conservation Society

Smoking related items are one of the most pervasive forms of litter on the streets and beaches of Scotland. At the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) we are really pleased to be working closely with ASH Scotland to challenge our Government to act on the harmful amount of cigarette butts littering Scotland’s beaches. During my time at MCS, I must have picked © Marine Conservation Society up hundreds, if not thousands, of cigarette butts on Scottish beaches. Our seas and coasts deserve much better.

At last year’s Great British Beach Clean, volunteers recorded over 1,500 cigarette stubs across 135 Scottish beaches, signalling an upward trend in butts found on Scottish shores over the last 25 years. Cigarette filters were the third most recorded item across the UK behind plastic and glass pieces; globally a staggering 2,412,151 were recorded by volunteers in just one day during the International Coastal Clean-up in 2018.

Cigarette filters seem to have been neglected from the plastics debate in the past, but we strongly believe that, much like items such as plastic cotton-bud stems and coffee cups, plastic filters should be considered as non-essential consumer items – single-use plastic items which centre on ease, preference or convenience, and which could be replaced by other products or behaviour change – and be the subject of appropriate regulatory action.

Whilst governments across the UK are beginning to announce positive actions to reduce single-use plastic litter, such as bottle return schemes and bans on plastic straws, the results of our Great British Beach Clean surveys have shown that there is a need to include plastic cigarette butts in the growing list of optional, replaceable consumer items, as they continue to pollute our beaches and cause harm to marine life.

Almost all of the four billion cigarette butts discarded each year in Scotland are made of a cellulose acetate plastic, and whilst filters do degrade faster than some plastic items, they can take up to 12 years to break down completely, during which time they can cause considerable environmental harm, releasing toxins into the environment and resulting in progressively smaller pieces of polluting plastic. Cigarette

butts leak toxins that contaminate water and harm marine life and the environment. They have been found in the stomachs of fish, birds, whales and other marine creatures, who mistake them for food. The prevalence of these single-use products on Scottish beaches is undeniably harmful to the marine ecosystem.

Non-plastic alternatives to the widely-used cigarette filters do exist, but unfortunately are rarely used, presumably because there has been no drive from industry or the consumer to use anything other than the cheapest, most convenient option. Unlike other single-use plastic items which have been subject to an outright ban or reduction, cigarettes will only be subject to an Extended Producer Responsibility scheme under the European Union’s Single Use Plastic Directive, which the Scottish Government has committed to implement. This will contribute to covering clean-up costs (estimated at £34 million per annum) rather than focusing on product restrictions. Together with ASH Scotland, we are calling for the Government to work with the supply chain to come up with a solution, and fast.

ASH Scotland’s research has found that cigarette filters do not bring any health benefits, despite two-thirds of smokers thinking they do. What filters do is make smoking more palatable by making tobacco smoke less harsh, cooling it and removing larger, more irritable particles. By giving the impression of reduced harm, and by making smoking easier for young people to start, the actual effect of filters is likely to increase the overall smoking rate and create a negative health impact.

With cigarette butts clearly identified as one of the most ubiquitous forms of single-use plastic waste on our beaches and beyond, it is hard to see how a credible action plan to reduce single-use plastic waste could possibly exclude them.

This is why MCS and ASH Scotland sent a joint letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform in Scotland, Roseanna Cunningham MSP, to request that single-use plastic cigarette filters be added to the list of items being considered by the Scottish Government’s expert panel on environmental charges and other measures. We look forward to hearing back from the Cabinet Secretary as to what steps the Scottish Government will take to stub out this problem once and for all.

“Almost all of the four billion cigarette butts discarded each year in Scotland are made of a cellulose acetate plastic.”

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A game-changing map of coastal litter Sophie Green, SCRAPbook Technical Coordinator

Marine and coastal pollution is a well-documented component of the Anthropocene. There are many shocking images from across the globe of masses of plastic accumulating on beaches and offshore. However, closer to home, relatively little was known about the state of Scotland’s coasts. Much of what was documented about coastal litter comes from beach surveys which only cover around 1% of the Scottish mainland coast. In order to fill the gap, the SCRAPbook (Scotland’s Coastal Rubbish Aerial Photography project) launched in 2018; using light aircraft to fly and photograph the mainland coast. This method allows comprehensive assessment of litter on the mainland coast for the first time.

The project is a collaboration between the Moray Firth Partnership and Sky Watch (UK Civil Air Patrol), with support from several partners and backing from Marine Scotland. Volunteer air crews, who are required to complete a minimum number of flying hours, now fly their light aircraft parallel to the coastline at heights of 600-800 feet. A crew member surveys the coast visually for litter and captures images using a DSLR camera. This crew member effectively delivers the first review of the coastal condition as they focus on identifying litter locations, avoiding accumulation of an unmanageable volume of data. Each image contains a geographical tag so that the litter can be located. This method is relatively inexpensive and allows large geographical ranges to be covered quickly and efficiently.

more challenging locations.

Following the 2018 survey, for the first time, it is possible to identify hotspots across the country and direct cleaning efforts. This involved a huge volunteer effort, with 150 flying hours and a total of over 1,300 volunteer hours contributed.

Litter was identified at over 5,500 locations. The intensity of this litter varied greatly, from isolated items to huge accumulations of plastic and other materials. Many of the worst affected areas are located on the northern and western parts of the coast in more isolated areas, far from population centres. In many cases, these locations are also difficult to reach, with steep cliff sections and difficult terrain.

The types of litter and its sources are also diverse. Whilst it is difficult to make a robust assessment, it is likely that at least 40% of the litter seen has come from the marine environment. This includes items lost at sea or discarded overboard.

Top ten litter items from the 2018 survey.

“It is likely that at least 40% of the litter seen has come from the marine environment.”

The geographical information is extracted, and images are classified by volunteers. The classification applied is designed to be simple and easy to use; a scale from zero to five depending on both the intensity and the distribution of litter seen in the image. Whilst the resolution of the images is not sufficient to capture the smallest litter, it is possible to see items down to approximately 10cm in length.

The 2018 assessment represents a snapshot in time. In order to build a higher-confidence and more robust data set, it is critical that the coasts are reflown so that change can be assessed, and hotspots identified and monitored so that efforts and resources can be targeted to these areas. SCRAPbook also aims to expand to cover the islands. As a charity venture, this will only be possible with continued support and fundraising. Visit www.scrapbook.org. uk to find out more about the project and how to get involved in cleaning up Scotland’s coasts.

In addition to recording litter intensity, the volunteer ‘SCRAPbookers’ assess other criteria from the pictures. This includes where the litter is located on the beach; whether it is on the foreshore, backshore or further up the coast. This allows some interpretation of the risk of it being washed out to sea. The field of view from the air also allows a broader vantage point than an on-ground survey, particularly as many beach cleans will only focus on the area between the sea and the high tide mark. Images are also reviewed for the type of coast (rocky, shingle, sand) and the accessibility, which is useful to inform cleaning operations. In addition, any interesting features are recorded, including seal haul-outs, nesting seabirds, and features of geological interest.

Following completion of the classification, the information is uploaded to a shared map, available through our website (www.scrapbook.org.uk/map). We encourage the use of this map as a tool to direct beach cleans, both by individuals and community groups and by more specialist groups to reach the

The 2018 litter distribution map, with categories 5 and 4 indicating major accumulations of litter.

24 Autumn 2019

Centenary of the Department of Geography at the University o Dr Lorna J Philip FRSGS and Professor Kevin J Edwards FRSGS, University of Aberdeen

Prior to the amalgamation of Aberdeen’s two medieval universities in 1860, Geography had been taught to undergraduate students at both King’s and Marischal Colleges since at least the late 16th century. First mooted in the early 1900s, it was not until 1919 that a lectureship in Geography at Aberdeen was created and a ‘Department of Geography’ came into being. Autumn 2019 marks the centenary of the establishment of this Department.

“The first undergraduate Geography course, ‘Economic Geography’, was offered in academic session 1919-20.”

numbers of Geography undergraduates.

The department’s expansion meant it was in need of more space, and in 1949 Geography and some other departments moved from cramped quarters in Marischal College to St Mary’s in Old Aberdeen. Geography is still based in this listed former Free Church of Scotland building in the heart of the historic King’s College Campus.

During the 1960s and 1970s, the Department (and the University of Aberdeen more generally) experienced The establishment of a unprecedented levels of Geography Department growth. Student numbers, at Aberdeen came about research output and income by a rather unusual route. accelerated apace. In In 1918, plans for a new academic session 1955-56 degree that had been there were 56 undergraduate put in abeyance during students taking courses in World War I, a Bachelor Geography. A decade later, of Commerce (BCom), Geography student numbers were resurrected. Town An early Geography field excursion. John McFarlane is pictured seated in the front row. had jumped to 327. Staff and gown support for this Photograph reproduced with the permission of the McFarlane family. numbers were slower to enterprise included public increase, but by the end of the 1960s the staff complement subscriptions from the Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce and had reached 17 academics, two research assistants, a other interested parties. This provided the University with additional funds to support the appointment of new members cartographer, two drawing room assistants, and a number of junior technicians and administrative/secretarial staff. of academic staff. ‘Economic Geography’ was prescribed as a Space for teaching and to house staff became a critical compulsory course for BCom students, and central University issue. St Mary’s was ‘taken over’ by Geographers in 1964 funding for a new lectureship and the when the other Departments occupying the building moved to associated creation of a Department newly-built facilities elsewhere on the Old Aberdeen campus. of Geography were announced in the Further space was created by the development of the first Aberdeen University Review in June of two major extensions to St Mary’s which opened in 1968.

1919. John McFarlane, who had held Containing workshops and specialist laboratories, as well a lectureship in Geography at the as lecture theatres and staff offices, St Mary’s could now University of Manchester since 1904 and support the burgeoning research activities of staff, as well served in the Geographical Section of the Naval Intelligence Division during the Great War, was appointed and gave his inaugural lecture on 17th October 1919.

The first undergraduate Geography course, ‘Economic Geography’, was offered in academic session 1919-20.

Front cover of the first issue of The Provisions for an Honours degree in Orb (Vol 1, No 1), May 1949.

Geography, including Ordinary and Advanced (first and second year respectively) courses in ‘Geography’, were approved a year later. Ordinary Geography quickly became a popular course for both MA and BSc undergraduates, and the first students to graduate with an Honours degree in Geography did so in 1928. The early decades of the Department were shaped by John McFarlane who was the only full-time appointee in Geography until his retirement in 1945.

The post-World War II period, led by Andrew O’Dell, saw Geography develop into a large and influential Department.

By 1950 O’Dell was leading a group of five academic staff who could offer a more diverse curriculum to growing

The first extension to St Mary’s, abutting the old church, depicted as ground was broken for the development of the second extension in the winter of 1979-80. Source: Departmental photographic archive.

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of Aberdeen as provide sufficient teaching space to allow all Geography teaching to be delivered in the building. Space was also available to house a growing postgraduate research student community and early cohorts of students taking the Aberdeen Geography Department’s first taught postgraduate degree, the MSc in Rural and Regional Resources Planning, launched in 1968.

positions were lost.

second major extension to St Mary’s was constructed, effectively doubling the floor space and creating further teaching and laboratory space and more staff offices. Opened in 1980, the second extension is a physical marker of the financial crisis that beset the University in the 1980s. The 1980s were a difficult decade for the University of Aberdeen as a result of swingeing cuts imposed on the institution by the University Grants Committee. Permission to break ground on the second extension was received only five days before a final moratorium on all further new buildings was issued by the funding body. Although academic staff redundancies were avoided during the 1980s, staff who left the Geography Department for positions elsewhere or through retirement were not replaced, and technical and other support staff

The contemporary University is a site of teaching and research. Balancing the often competing demands of teaching, education and pastoral care for students and staff, along with research and scholarship, is challenging and rewarding. As the Aberdeen Geography Department enters a second century, it remains committed to delivering a high-quality education to undergraduate and postgraduate students, and to the pursuit of excellence in geographical research.

In the recent past, national assessments of research and teaching quality and institutional restructuring have prompted further change. Since the year 2000, 32 individuals have joined the Geography academic staff and 40 have left. This churn is in marked contrast to For many generations of Aberdeen the relative stability of the staff Geography students and staff, Tarradale complement in earlier periods House, near Muir of Ord, was the of the Department’s history. At Department’s ‘second home’. Originally Aberdeen, Faculties were replaced the property of the famous geologist Sir Roderick Impey

by Colleges in 2002; Colleges were subsequently disbanded Murchison (1792-1871), the house was threatened with in 2018. Discipline-based Departments were combined to demolition in the late 1950s. Andrew O’Dell campaigned to create multi-disciplinary academic Schools in 2004, and save it and to transform it into a field centre for Aberdeen Geography has been one of the disciplines comprising the students. In 1961 Tarradale House and its library came School of Geosciences since then (the School comprises under the ownership the Departments of of Aberdeen University, Geography, Geology and the Geography and Archaeology).

Department undertook Despite these its management. Staff institutional changes, and students formed staff and students volunteer work parties retain a strong who renovated the house sense of identity as and grounds. Following ‘Geography’. The MA four decades of hosting and BSc Geography field parties, increasing degree programmes operational costs led continue to attract to the decision by the healthy numbers University to sell Tarradale of undergraduate in 2003. It is some students and were comfort that the property amongst the first to is currently owned by a receive endorsement former graduate of the under the Royal Department!

Geographical Society’s Tarradale House. Source: Departmental photographic archive. recently launched The 1960s and 1970s accreditation programme. The Department offers three saw an increasing focus on research activities. ‘Year in taught postgraduate programmes: MSc GIS, Master of the Department’ articles in The Orb (the magazine of Land Economy (Rural Surveying), and MSc Environmental the Aberdeen University Geographical Society which was Partnership Management. The sizeable postgraduate research published annually from 1949 to 1986) listed details of staff student community benefits from membership of two research visits, fieldwork, conference and other scientific Doctoral Training Partnerships: the ESRC-funded Scottish meetings, and significant publications. Research activities Graduate School of Social Science, and the NERC-funded took academic staff around the world, and the Department ‘Quadrat’, a partnership between the Universities of Aberdeen hosted numerous visiting scholars from overseas universities. and Queen’s Belfast.

Student numbers remained buoyant, so much so that a

“For many generations of Aberdeen Geography students and staff, Tarradale House, near Muir of Ord, was the Department’s ‘second home’.”

A full history of Geography at Aberdeen is published in the special issue of the Scottish Geographical Journal which marks the Centenary of Aberdeen University’s Geography Department.

26 Autumn 2019

Tackling food waste through social innovation Jade Skinner, Head of Communications, Cyrenians

Between home and supermarket waste, Britain throws away £494 million worth of food each week, yet 8.4 million people struggle to feed themselves and their family. In context that means one in eight people aren’t able to access good quality food on a regular basis despite a surplus of available goods.

At Cyrenians (www.cyrenians.scot), we believe that everyone deserves to have access to life’s basic necessities. Across 13 services we deliver sustainable solutions to the causes and consequences of homelessness, and food poverty is a crucial element of a number of these projects.

Through a mix of social enterprise and charitable projects we work hard to deliver not only the physical food people in our communities need, but also the key skills required to prepare meals, minimise waste, and grow your own food. We understand that whilst food is essential, so are the social links that come from sharing a meal.

At our FareShare depot based in Leith, a team of passionate volunteers and staff help distribute around 40 tonnes of surplus food a month throughout the South-East of Scotland. The recipients of this food include over 100 community food members who range from school holiday clubs working to tackle holiday hunger, to youth groups and other charity partners. Last year across the UK, FareShare provided 46.5 million meals, saving the charity sector £33.7 million.

The food redistributed by our depot is high quality, and often only comes into our warehouse for reasons which are not about the actual food, for example due to printing errors on packaging or a rebrand. And, crucially, by removing the barrier to quality food, charities are able to divert vital funds towards making an impact in other areas of their work.

One of the community food members of our FareShare work was a primary school afterschool club. The school is in a high poverty area and children who attend the breakfast club are often reliant on this resource Monday-Friday. Due to the saving afforded by ordering food through us (which otherwise would have gone to landfill) they were able to take all the children to the panto for the first time, helping strengthen community ties and providing a once-in-a-lifetime experience for children that otherwise might not have this opportunity.

Food waste impacts every aspect of our day-to-day lives, from the

fruit and veg that is thrown out for ‘not looking quite right’, to the packaging errors on an entire order of cereal.

Beyond this, and perhaps not thought of on such a large scale, is the waste that occurs in our own homes.

“We deliver sustainable solutions to the causes and consequences of homelessness.”

Across the street from our depot is our purpose-built community kitchen.

Here, on any day of the week, you will find a busy kitchen full of individuals who may, before this point, have never cooked a meal from scratch before. Under the enthusiastic tutelage of our inhouse chef Sue O’Neill-Berest, people are welcomed in to the commercial-scale kitchen to learn how to make simple, nutritious meals with minimal waste.

From basic pasta dishes to more complex recipes created by our Syrian chef Noura, participants in our cooking courses learn how to save money by cooking smart. Our students come from all backgrounds, including those facing complex needs, but in the kitchen you will only hear encouragement and excitement as they learn to make sauces from fresh vegetables, and share tales of cooking for their family for the first time.

Without these basic skills, many people are faced with the constant stress and worry about how to make food go further; an impossible task in some instances.

Another key aspect of our work at Cyrenians is innovation.

That’s why you’ll find vegetable patches growing seasonal foods in our hospital community gardens, and an organic farm just outside of Edinburgh. Here, we share knowledge and experience as part of a community network of local food growers, helping to encourage people to ‘grow their own’ and get more inventive with food.

Between our work of redistributing food, sharing skills around cooking, and actively championing local growing, Cyrenians are passionate about tackling food waste in a way that benefits our community beyond simply reducing landfill. With an estimated 1.9 million tonnes of food being wasted in the UK there’s still more to be done, but with wider support we are optimistic about positive change.

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Autumn 2019

Scottish insect farms: a circular solution to food waste Dr William Clark, Bioeconomy Policy Analyst, Zero Waste Scotland

Food waste is one of the greatest challenges facing the human race. Aptly enough, it’s not unlike an onion, with multiple layers which might make you weep.

At the surface, we produce enough food globally to feed everyone but more than a third of it goes uneaten, despite millions of people worldwide suffering from chronic hunger.

Peel away to the layer beneath and numerous lost resources emerge. For when food is thrown away, it is not only nutritional value which is lost. It also wastes the water, soil, nutrients, work hours, energy, transport – and plastic packaging – involved in producing and selling it. In Scotland alone, nearly £1.1 billion of food is thrown away every year, a stark statistic highlighting the urgent need for the Food Waste Reduction Action Plan which we have launched with the Scottish Government as we work to meet the key national target of cutting food waste by a third by 2025.

Peeling back another layer reveals significant losses in biodiversity from wasting food, as key forests and grasslands are wiped out to make way for yet more farmland, with devastating consequences for the communities, flora and fauna which depend on this vital habitat.

Finally, right at the core, are the carbon emissions from food waste, which as Zero Waste Scotland highlighted recently cause greater climate change short-term than plastic. To paraphrase the United Nations, if global food waste were a country, it would be the third largest source of carbon emissions.

“Farming flies could play a significant role in solving Scotland’s food waste problem.”

With the global population predicted to soar to 9.5 billion by 2050, if we don’t transition to sustainable food systems, we can’t ensure food security, and we certainly can’t solve the climate emergency.

Thankfully, however, making that switch need not be difficult.

Nature has been developing sustainable, circular solutions to food waste for millennia. Among the best examples of this are insect farms. It might sound unlikely or unappetising but farming flies could play a significant role in solving Scotland’s food waste problem. Firms and governments across Europe and worldwide are already reaping the economic and environmental benefits of investing in this innovative approach.

We recently published a report setting out how well-placed Scotland is to become a global leader in insect farming, thanks in large part to our world-leading food and drink sector. Our research identified black soldier fly larvae as a potential game-changer for Scottish salmon farms. As our second biggest food export industry, aquaculture requires huge volumes of feed, much of it sourced from wild-caught fish.

Establishing black soldier fly farms to fatten up millions of their notoriously voracious larvae on the thousands of tonnes of food currently wasted each year could rapidly convert waste, such as fruit rejected by supermarkets, into highquality protein. Processing these nutrient-laden larvae would produce a cheap, sustainable alternative feed for farmed

salmon, and a neat solution to a significant amount of food waste.

The nutritious larvae can be processed to create low-carbon animal feeds and quality supplements for traditional livestock such as chickens, and also pets. Meanwhile valuable byproducts could include biodiesel, high quality fertiliser and chitin, which can be made into biodegradable plastic.

These tiny, tropical insects can be farmed in vast numbers in purpose-built centres indoors, so crucially this new kind of agriculture is not competing for scarce land, water or other resources. Instead these insect farms could be established alongside existing anaerobic digestion facilities, using some of the low-carbon power they currently produce from food waste as a cheap source of green heat for breeding black soldier flies, which cannot survive below 30°C. Their need for conditions only found in the tropics means that while they are an invasive species they pose a minimal risk in the UK, while extensive testing has shown that they don’t carry human or livestock diseases.

It is little wonder that the Insect Biomass Conversion Task & Finish Group, of which Zero Waste Scotland is a member, recently highlighted the value of supporting insect farming north and south of the border as an essential source of sustainable feed ingredients to support food security, reduce the environmental impact of food, and create valuable jobs.

We are proud to be working with experts, entrepreneurs and industry to turn this opportunity into reality for Scotland.

28 Autumn 2019

Scotland’s Zero Waste Towns Andrew Pankhurst, Communications Programme Manager, Zero Waste Scotland

Could one trailblazing town inspire a country to make a seismic shift to a zero-waste lifestyle? That was the question which inspired our Zero Waste Towns back in 2014.

In a bid to explain the point of the project to the public, we coined the phrase ‘working to be first in making things last’. That simple sentence was adapted by the Scottish Government in its landmark 2016 circular economy strategy, Making Things Last, to spell out the benefits of using our resources more sustainably.

Back in 2014 we didn’t know if a single Scottish community really could lead the way for the rest of the nation.

We had been impressed by the amazing efforts of the people of Capannori, in Italy, who managed to raise their collective recycling rate to 70% after uniting against the planned construction of a waste incinerator in their town.

to landfill, through a combination of dedicated engagement work and the provision of new recycling facilities.

The real win for Dunbar though, was in reuse. The team brokered an arrangement with the council allowing them to divert any decent-looking items away from recycling centre skips and into the back of a rental van instead. Before long they had, somewhat unintentionally, kicked off what can only be described as a ‘reuse revolution’ that quickly spread beyond Dunbar and across East Lothian.

“We liked Dunbar’s planned holistic approach to recycling, reuse and waste reduction.”

When we urged communities across Scotland to come forward, the first place we signed up as a Zero Waste Town was Dunbar. Coincidentally the East Lothian coastal community had just learned that an incinerator was also planned in their neighbourhood. Although their bid did not seek to stop that development, the announcement certainly seemed to focus minds locally on the need for action against burning waste (being second only to landfill on the list of things we really need to stop doing with our finite resources). We liked Dunbar’s planned holistic approach to recycling, reuse and waste reduction, and their aim of engaging closely with the public, local businesses, organisations and the council.

Early signs were mixed. Soon after the project began in late 2014, it became clear that its central aim of increasing household recycling had been rendered largely unnecessary by the welcome roll-out of an overhauled council collection service reducing landfill collections and boosting recycling options. This proved more effective in changing behaviour than any amount of knocking on doors.

Recycling in schools was another matter entirely though. The six schools in the area were doing virtually no recycling at all – a significant gap which seemed to reflect the situation nationwide. Yet within a year the Zero Waste Dunbar team halved the amount of waste their half-a-dozen schools sent

There was an incredible response from people passing items on, and crazy levels of interest from others keen to pay hard cash for these salvaged second-hand goods at pop-up shops.

This soon saw the ‘back of the van’ model replaced by ‘capture’ sheds at recycling centres supplying goods for sale at highly creatively curated reuse superstores in Dunbar, Musselburgh and Edinburgh. This burgeoning empire was soon bankrolling a fulltime staff team of over ten people, comfortably outlasting the Zero Waste Scotland project funding to leave a still-blossoming legacy.

Dunbar has already shown that one town can change people’s behaviour region-wide. We have since expanded the scheme to include cities and islands too, including Zero Waste Perth which set up a tool library and has led litter picking on the River Tay by canoe.

Zero Waste Bute has shown that on a small isle where council recycling collections were deemed too expensive to be viable, a community can provide its own kerbside service and create valuable local jobs too.

Zero Waste Edinburgh works largely with universities to create a cultural shift where this year’s graduates’ unwanted belongings pass to next year’s freshers, while Zero Waste Leith reduced fly-tipping by 44% through an entertaining Trainspotting-themed engagement campaign.

We will publish a guidebook to share the lessons learned by our sustainable communities to expand their influence further towards our goal of a national shift to a zero-waste lifestyle. With people’s awareness of the climate emergency now greater than ever, Scotland is already moving in the right direction.

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Autumn 2019

Wake up and smell the coffee: kicking our single-use habit Julia Horton, Senior Press Officer, Zero Waste Scotland

Predicting the future can be hard. The world-famous inventor Nikola Tesla was quoted in the 1930s forecasting that within a hundred years neither tea nor coffee would be ‘in vogue’. Far from fading away in the 21st century, however, our love affair with caffeine has only grown since then, spawning a mountain of disposable products causing both litter and the damaging carbon emissions driving the climate emergency which we are now in.

Today in Scotland alone we collectively use and discard an estimated 200 million single-use coffee cups annually, generating nearly 6,000 tonnes of carbon emissions. We may never break, or even want to break, our caffeine habit, but we need to ditch these disposables fast to avoid a stark future which is now all too easy to foresee.

Only a tiny fraction (0.25%) of disposable cups UK-wide are recycled, partly because the plastic lining which many have cannot be processed in combination with the other materials which they are made from, such as paper. As a result, when these cups end up in recycling, which they often do as people try to do the right thing, it makes it difficult or impossible to recycle any of the items being processed.

is typically hidden in the cost of the beverage they buy.

Behavioural science studies have repeatedly shown that when consumers can clearly see the cost of packaging, they will seek to avoid it, even if the price is relatively small. People will also change their behaviour irrespective of whether they are motivated by a desire to help save the planet or just want to save their pocket.

This has already been used to great effect in a range of programmes encouraging people to waste less and reuse and recycle more. It was the driving force behind Scotland’s successful 5p carrier bag charge, which reduced single-use carrier bags by 80% in a single year.

Work by Zero Waste Scotland has developed further evidence that selling disposable cups separately from the drink, without raising the total sale price, could harness this effect and inspire a nationwide behavioural shift to more sustainable, reusable cups, at no extra cost to consumers or businesses. We are working with the Scottish Government to use these valuable findings to reduce use of disposable cups and the environmental impacts they generate.

All single-use packaging generates environmental impacts, as well as financial cost to consumers.

When these costs are made clear, we know consumers will be more likely to avoid those costs and seek unpackaged or reusable packaging options.

“In Scotland alone we collectively use and discard an estimated 200 million singleuse coffee cups annually.”

Earlier this year we published research revealing that Scottish households unknowingly buy more than 300,000 tonnes of single-use packaging for their groceries each year, collectively costing them £600 million. This generates 650,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually, equivalent to emissions from around four million car journeys from Aberdeen to London.

The best way to manage any waste is to prevent it in the first place. For single-use coffee cups this is easily done by switching to reusable alternatives. Many cafes, from global chains to small independents, have introduced discounts rewarding customers choosing to use their own keep cup.

However, growing evidence suggests these discounts have little influence on consumer behaviour.

In contrast, a growing body of research shows that selling single-use cups separately from the coffee or other drinks which they contain can significantly increase the number of people deciding to switch to a reusable cup instead.

Disposable cups are not free, but the cost to consumers

As with disposable cups, people have been largely unaware of the cost of this packaging as it is hidden within the overall price of their groceries. By informing Scots of the true costs of single-use packaging, we hope to persuade more people to avoid the vast amounts which are unnecessary and single-use, and encourage retailers to provide alternatives.

Tesla’s forecast on the future of coffee and tea highlights the risk of predicting the distant future; the only real certainty is that you won’t be there to see it yourself. Yet it seems clear that we already have the information we need to make the future a whole lot brighter in 100 years’ time. We just need to use that information well, now.

30 Autumn 2019

Breaking down the future of plastic Sarah Archer, Policy Analyst, Zero Waste Scotland

Global concern over the impact of plastic on the environment - from carbon emissions and pollution to public health and as a threat to wildlife - is driving unprecedented calls for action to combat the climate emergency.

“Home compost heaps and the wider environment don’t provide the necessary heat to fully break down compostable products.”

We are now all too familiar with endless images of plastic piling up around Scotland and the rest of the world.

Our collective consumption of products and materials, including plastic, now accounts for the majority of Scotland’s carbon footprint, making the need to act indisputably clear. We must reduce our demand for raw materials by making products which last longer through reuse, repair, remanufacture and recycling.

But as manufacturers, packaging companies, retailers, the public and politicians all rush to do something, what that ‘something’ should be can be anything but clear.

In the wake of the crisis, biodegradable and compostable materials have been held up as a panacea, spurring firms, the public sector and communities to switch to these materials. However, while more and more of the packaging and single-use items we buy are labelled biodegradable or compostable, there is widespread confusion over what these terms actually mean. There is also huge variation in services and infrastructure nationwide to collect and process them. All of which raises serious questions over whether they are any better for the planet.

Any compostable or biodegradable material can be broken down by micro-organisms into naturally occurring gases and organic matter. But how long that takes and what conditions are needed for that to happen differs from product to product.

Simply labelling items as ‘compostable’ is potentially misleading. Only products which are clearly certified under the one specific industry standard for compostables, covering factors including time and temperature, are truly compostable; and only then if they are disposed of in industrial composting facilities which meet that standard.

Home compost heaps and the wider environment don’t provide the necessary heat to fully break down compostable products.

Labelling plastics as ‘biodegradable’ can also be misleading because we do not currently have the same kind of industry standard for these items.

In some instances, materials touted under this ‘eco-friendly’ label have been found to simply fragment into tiny plastic particles. Awareness of the far-reaching damage which these microplastics could wreak has rocketed in recent years. An array of reports on plastic particles entering the food chain, our waters and the air we breathe warn of the potential

harm to the health of humans and ecosystems.

Meanwhile all too often, businesses seeking to address the plastic issue focus on switching from single-use plastic items to single-use items made from another material instead. This does little to reduce the ever-growing mountain of resources and products we consume.

The current zeitgeist offers a real opportunity to tackle our consumption of throwaway items by first considering whether they need to be disposable. Replacing unnecessary single-use products with reusable alternatives would significantly reduce our carbon emissions and preserve our limited supply of raw materials.

When it comes to food products, compostables could prove a valuable alternative to plastic in theory if there are no reusable options. Yet in practice this is also problematic. If people removed remnants of food from plastic packaging, both the food and the packaging it comes in could be recycled separately. Plastic packaging which remains covered in food waste often ends up in landfill or incinerators because our current recycling systems cannot generally process both food and plastic together.

In some countries most food waste is sent to industrial composting sites where both compostable containers and food could decompose together. However, Scotland’s food waste is generally sent to anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities to generate green energy. While this is the most sustainable use of food waste which we have currently, these power plants cannot usually break down compostable products.

Public confusion over how to dispose of different waste also means that AD and industrial composting sites both tend to remove all packaging materials before processing food waste anyway, as much of it will include conventional plastic. This means that compostable products which could have been decomposed can end up being removed and incinerated or landfilled instead.

While work continues to overcome all these issues, the best thing we can do is reduce the waste we produce, and reuse and recycle what we cannot eradicate.

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Autumn 2019

Next-generation agriculture inspired by toxic algal blooms Douglas Martin, Managing Director, MiAlgae, and Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2018

The vivid colours of toxic algal blooms are both a spectacular and a sinister sight in Scotland’s waters. These explosions of algae can prove fatal to both people and wildlife, threatening the survival of coastal communities as vital sectors such as fishing and tourism suffer shutdowns and major commercial losses amidst safety fears.

There have been numerous reports of such hazardous outbreaks around the world, caused by build-ups of excess nutrients which have been linked to a wide range of possible causes. These include global warming heating up our oceans, and chemical fertilisers from traditional agriculture seeping into rivers, lakes and seas.

Ironically, it was seeing these algal blooms for myself which inspired me to spot a potential business opportunity for ‘next generation’ agriculture that could also help to address those same environmental problems.

I was working for Scotland’s offshore wind industry when I witnessed algal blooms first-hand in our waters and began to wonder if this damaging phenomenon could be put to good use. If an abundance of nutrients in the wild could create masses of ‘bad’ algae, could the same process be adapted to grow a plentiful supply of ‘good’ algae in a laboratory to provide a reliable, sustainable nutrient-rich feed for our national aquaculture sector?

It is now three years since I set up MiAlgae in a bid to answer that question. I was studying biotechnology at the University of Edinburgh at the time, and wanted to start a successful company which made money while also helping to protect the environment. I knew there was a growing need for an alternative quality feed for Scotland’s fast-expanding aquaculture sector to reduce their reliance on limited stocks of wild-caught fish for the valuable omega-3 fatty acids needed to produce premium, farmed salmon. Creating an algal bloom in a contained, controlled environment to produce microalgae high in omega-3 for sale as a highly nutritious animal feed supplement could prove an ideal solution.

I didn’t originally think of the chances to create a truly circular enterprise; I was simply pursuing a potential business opportunity. Working with Zero Waste Scotland, however, helped me to develop my idea and realise its potential to epitomise the nation’s circular economy.

What better source of sustainable, rich nutrients to grow algae for feed for farmed salmon than the waste already produced by another major national food and drink business – Scotland’s world-renowned whisky industry? Using a key by-product of the distillation process to grow omega-3 rich microalgae is a perfect example of the circular approach to business: transforming a low-value product which is largely wasted into a high-value product supporting a new, more sustainable business.

Algae oil feed supplements could be produced to order to meet demand from the industry as it grows. And aquaculture is just one potentially lucrative market for these supplements which could also supply the pet food sector.

We are working with a whisky distiller on pilot trials this year to move out of the lab and scale this up commercially, which will be a critical and exciting next step as we test everything to find out what we still don’t yet know. We have also been trying out a whole variety of liquid-based by-products from different food and drink industries, meaning that in future this development could make much of the sector carbon negative.

The Scottish Government’s new target to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2045 offers a real boost to the nation’s growing biotech industry, by incentivising business to reap the financial and environmental rewards of switching from traditional ‘make, use and bin’ approaches to far more circular ways of maximising the life of products and resources.

“What better source of sustainable, rich nutrients to grow algae for feed for farmed salmon than the waste already produced by Scotland’s worldrenowned whisky industry?”

Our experience so far has shown what a single, surprising sounding idea can lead to in this increasingly important arena, with hard work, innovation, support and collaboration. If algal blooms can bring a circular solution to climate change and food security, just think what the next big idea inspired by land or sea could be.

32 Autumn 2019

No road, no voice, no future: hope and ruin in the Amazon Eilidh Munro, Film-maker

Deep in the remote Peruvian Amazon, a road is quietly being built through the Manú Biosphere Reserve: a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the world’s top biodiversity hotspot and home to indigenous communities, some living without contact. The road is slicing between the protected Manú National Park and Amarakaeri Communal Reserve, opening up this dense forest to the outside world.

Bone-like paths are already carving their way out from this spine, through thick, untouched forest, full of opportunities for whoever reaches it first. If uncontrolled, this new road is estimated to cause a further 43,000 hectares of deforestation in Manú by 2040, equivalent to the combined size of Edinburgh and Glasgow.

a market to sell their produce, a future for their children, and improved healthcare and education will also arrive.

However, this road has been slowly advancing into Manú for 50 years, and native communities like Shintuya, who have had a road since the 1970s, are yet to enjoy the benefits being promised to Diamante today.

“‘The road has been here 50 years and we have not seen a good benefit.’”

Soon, it will also reach the native community of Diamante, threatening their culture and territory. Thereafter, it is likely to connect Manú with the heart of illegal gold mining in Madre de Dios.

The approval of this controversial road follows a three-year battle between environmentalists and the former regional government of Madre de Dios, led by Luis Otsuka, the former president of the Mining Federation of Madre de Dios (Fedemin). In 2015, Otsuka began constructing this road without environmental approval, before it was declared illegal, halted by the environmental ministry of Peru, and Otsuka prosecuted.

However, it is in fact indigenous people in Manú who have been calling for this road, who have campaigned, fought, and continued the work of Otsuka by manually clearing a trail to their rainforest home, meeting the end of Otsuka’s original, lollipop-like ‘road to nowhere’.

But why would indigenous people threaten this rainforest paradise – and their home – with potentially irreversible destruction?

In truth, many basic human rights are not being met in Manú’s native communities: access to a good education, well-equipped medical centres, or even clean running water.

“The road will bring water, communication, internet – so many things,” explained Edgar Morales Gomez, the District Mayor. “Only with the road can we change our life. We cannot in another way because, in the end, we live forgotten by the state.”

Life in Diamante is a struggle. People are desperate for change, and this road has become a symbol of hope; hope that, alongside improved access to and from their community,

Like Diamante, Shintuya has no electricity, the sewage system built runs into a river previously used for recreational bathing, and they still cannot sustain a living through agriculture due to the high and unsustainable prices set by the intermediaries to whom they need to sell their products.

“In winter the rivers rise, the road slides, so the intermediaries put up the price to buy the bananas from you, which is not profitable. Because the price is low, sometimes we are forced to work with timber, with extracting trees,” said Miguel Visse, an indigenous Harakbut farmer.

Forced to continue logging to make a living, Shintuya are still waiting for the better life promised through road connection.

“The road has been here 50 years and we have not seen a good benefit,” said Victoria Corisepa. “In fact, we are losing our customs, so the community is trying to rescue our culture, our identity, our respect.”

Despite the hopes of Diamante, this road has failed to improve the livelihoods and living standards of indigenous communities in Manú because this has never been its true intention. There is no plan in place to ensure that this road will bring the development it is promising, nor are there control methods to protect indigenous people from the outside. Cocaine trafficking, illegal logging, human trafficking and gold mining already threaten Manú’s environment and communities. An uncontrolled road will only increase these threats.

“We’re going to be observers of how families are destroyed, natives of the area, how natural resources are destroyed, how everything is destroyed, and how the world is destroyed.

Because that is not a local impact, what is happening here is going to have an impact in other parts of the planet,” warns Oscar Guadalupe, director of human rights organisation Asociación Huarayo.

“It is very human to desire to be interconnected, to have a road,” he explains. “They play with people’s natural desire; they sell us roads, but they don’t sell us development.”

Eilidh Munro will be speaking to RSGS audiences in Dumfries, Galashiels, Ayr and Helensburgh in late September 2019.

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Autumn 2019

Incredible Kruger Brian J D’Arcy, RSGS Member

Kruger National Park is, as the saying goes, about the size of Wales. But with only a series of tourist camps and support settlements for staff and contractors, the human population is tiny, and greatly outnumbered by the wildlife.

Large mammals include everything from antelopes to zebras.

Kruger is one of the oldest national parks in the world, founded in 1898, in the form initially of the Sabie Game Reserve, supported by the President of the then Republic of South Africa, Paul Kruger. The first warden was appointed in 1902; a Scot from Lanarkshire, Major James StevensonHamilton. An additional game reserve to the north was established (Shingwedzi) and the two were combined when the National Parks Act was passed in 1926.

The history of the Kruger has not been without controversy.

People were displaced to create a game reserve, notably when the reserve was extended northwards to the Limpopo on the border with Zimbabwe. There was even some debate about whether the ANC would protect and maintain the reserve once Nelson Mandela was released, with calls for restoration of pre-existing tribal settlements and lands. However, the importance of the Kruger to the South African economy has guaranteed its survival. An innovative deal was made for the Parfuri region, north of the Luvuvhu River, where the Makuleke people had been displaced and resettled in an area outside the park. The new democratic government returned the Parfuri land to their ownership, but retained it within the national park, providing income from tourism.

they were a pleasingly abundant surprise. We followed the eerie yells and whoops of hyenas until we encountered them moving along the track or cutting back away from us. A solitary side-striped jackal flitted between the scrubby woodland trees in the torch light.

Familiar diurnal species were encountered too; impala, kudu and elephant. At night, the steady dignified power of elephants crunching branches and feeding as they moved through the thorny vegetation close to us was awesome. Finally, just before we had to return to camp, as lions roared from the darkness too far away to visit, we saw a leopard crouching with its prey on a small promontory on the Olifants River.

Without the skill of our guide, such an experience would have been impossible.

“The magic of the animated, living landscape is unforgettable.”

The tourist target of spotting ‘the Big Five’ (lion, leopard, buffalo, rhino and elephant) is a direct throwback to the era of shooting for sport when they were the most dangerous animals to hunt. It seems anachronistic now: there are two species of rhino in Kruger so it’s six not five; giraffes are taller; hippos are arguably more dangerous; hunting dogs are far rarer and certainly as exhilarating to encounter. A confusion of zebras is a wondrous sight, and when a giraffe steps forward from invisibility amongst trees that are actually smaller than the animals hidden there, the magic of the animated, living landscape is unforgettable. The birdlife contributes to the living landscape, bringing colour and evocative sounds. Fretting francolins hesitantly picking over a patch of grassland, the wild cry of a fish eagle over the river, and hovering gems of red, blue and yellow as different sunbirds flit amongst flowers.

Our two guides on the morning walk were excellent; it’s a highlight of such activities that tourists can meet in a small group with Africans in respected leadership roles and we can learn about the changes in their country over the past 20 years. Our walk was led by an enthusiastic and clearly competent young woman who had been in the first batch of trainees to attend a mixed race training course, having been selected for a place jointly sponsored by the National Park and the Jobs Fund.

Other changes were evident since our previous visit ten years previously. More staff, reflecting the values and demographics of the rainbow nation, and contributing a warmth of personality and a friendly relaxed culture for the enjoyment of visitors. The night drives and guided walks are now available at all the camps in the Kruger; a very welcome development which enriches the experience for visitors. The fundamental joy of a proper visit to the Kruger, however, remains the freedom to drive along the roads and tracks in a hire car, and trust to luck and care when encountering the wildlife, be it an ambling bull elephant in no hurry to move over, or a wobbly-stepping chameleon chancing a painfully slow road crossing. The landscape gradually changes as you move from the wooded south through the thorn-grass savannah of the central region, and on again to the Mopani bush and woodland to the north. The landscape is as rich and diverse as the fauna and flora, as is the experience of cold early mornings to burning hot afternoons, then the amazing vast expanse of the starlit sky as never seen from Britain. It’s a truly wonderful experience.

We visited in October, and signed up (“at your own risk”) for a night drive and a dawn walk in the bush, both at the Letaba camp in the north. Our sampling of nocturnal wildlife was led by a very adventurous and knowledgeable local guide who showed us large-spotted genet; hippos out of the water and grazing under the stars like bizarrely rotund cows on the grass; and dozens of springhares bouncing away like mini-kangaroos in the darkness, eyes reflecting the spotlights and long black-tipped tails flying behind. Truly nocturnal, Wildlife tourists taking a break with local African guides on a stroll in the bush from Letaba camp.

34 Autumn 2019

Nine Lessons in Brexit Sir Ivan Rogers, former Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the European Union

I wrote most of the text of my short book, Nine Lessons in Brexit, for a lecture I delivered just before Christmas 2018: hence its title.

choices and trade-offs we face, and much prefer to re-enter ‘campaign mode’ than to govern and have to confront realities and be honest about them with the public.

It was already clear by then that Theresa May’s strategy to deliver her preferred version of Brexit was falling apart. The very night I gave the lecture was supposed to have been the one of the so-called Meaningful Vote in the Commons to bless the Withdrawal Agreement she had agreed in November with all the 27 Heads of Government in the EU.

The central argument advanced by the new Prime Minister against a Brexit deal like the one his predecessor ended up advocating, is that we need full autonomy to run our own trade policy and conclude our own free trade deals.

“It is too easy to lose sight of the fundamental questions we need to address.”

In practice, the vote was postponed. And when she eventually held it in January, she was beaten by an historically huge margin. Two subsequent attempts also failed. And by the late spring, the consequential demise of the Prime Minister was a certainty: arguably the fourth consecutive Conservative Prime Minister whose fate has been sealed by the European question.

Perhaps inevitably, if depressingly, the main lesson the Conservative Party seems to have chosen to derive from the last three years, as demonstrated by their choice of Boris Johnson as leader, is that they needed to become the party of ‘no deal’ enthusiasts if they were to head off the political threat from the Right.

Purely politically, that may be an understandable choice.

And, as I write, the possibility that we are grinding inexorably towards ‘no deal’ this autumn – a dangerous prospect of which I have been warning publicly since 2017 – seems ever more probable. We face too the growing likelihood of a second General Election since the 2016 referendum, as the paralysis in Westminster encourages another Prime Minister to risk another ‘the people versus the political elite’ election.

It might yet even ‘work’ this time. If, by ‘work’, one solely means changing the composition of the House of Commons sufficiently to be able to assemble a majority in favour of the hardest of hard Brexits.

Much of the public is understandably fed up with the length of the exit process and finds the political manoeuvres and blame games on all sides increasingly unedifying. That may well play to the advantage of those crying ‘let’s just get it done’. Though they have been playing just as many games as anyone.

As has often been the case over the past generation, the forces seeking a so-called ‘soft Brexit’ and to stop ‘no deal’ seem less united and less determined to win at all costs than those who want to drive through a ‘no deal’ outcome.

But as I hope my book demonstrates, ‘no deal’ is actually neither a genuine destination nor a sustainable solution for the UK. Going to ‘no deal’ in reality gets nothing ‘done’. It would prove just to be a different route to a longer period of damaging uncertainty, and a weaker negotiating position for the UK for the inevitable next stage in the negotiations to fashion a new relationship between the UK and the bloc it is leaving. And it might well fracture the United Kingdom permanently along the way.

Amidst the noise and fury of the current debate, it is too easy to lose sight of the fundamental questions we need to address. And too many politicians are still intent on obscuring the real

One can certainly argue that case.

No serious Government can argue, though, that the only major country or bloc with which we will not need a free trade deal is the one with which we currently do much the greatest trade. (Indeed, we conduct more trade in services with the EU than with our next eight trading partners, including the US, put together.)

No serious Government can argue either that it is fine to trade on ‘WTO terms’ with that largest trading partner when its own behaviour repeatedly shows that, in trading relations with all others, it accepts there is a huge advantage for the UK in trading on ‘free trade deal’ terms which are much superior.

So, one has to assume that the argument for going to ‘no deal’ is either that: •T he other side’s solidarity will crumble when they see we are serious about threatening to walk. In reality, there has never been the slightest evidence of this being true, however often it has been repeated; the EU sees the costs to the UK of a ‘no deal’ Brexit as much higher for the UK, and the costs to itself much larger if it were to abandon its core principles. It won’t. This is a pipe dream.

• I t will prove a quicker and better route to a new free trade deal than agreeing any Withdrawal Agreement on the table.

And will enable us to escape both the ‘backstop’ which has become a key stumbling block to any deal, and some of our financial obligations on exit. This too is a pipe dream.

The EU looks at the new Prime Minister’s conception of the free trade deal and sees an even greater necessity to stand firm on the backstop. And it views ‘no deal’ as handing it virtually complete control over how and what we trade with each other until any deal is done. All the pressure to escape the ‘no deal’ noose will be on the British side.

‘No deal’ would not hasten the road to an eventual free trade deal, and improve its terms once negotiated. It would slow it up, and worsen them.

The lessons from the first Brexit negotiations are clear and many. The sooner the British political class digests them, and starts being honest with the public about the major tradeoffs ahead, the sooner the country can reunify and tackle its huge challenges. The signs, however, are that this remains a distant prospect.

The

35 Geographer14-

Autumn 2019

Time to change clothes Kate Fox, Investment Manager, Baillie Gifford

When we think about causes of environmental damage, we rarely consider the shirts on our backs. However, clothing – particularly what has been dubbed ‘fast fashion’ – takes its toll and is every bit as destructive as the issues that garner the headlines.

The clothing industry’s harmful impact on the environment is illustrated by the disturbing fact that, in 2015, its greenhouse gas emissions exceeded the combined total from all international flights and maritime shipping.

Its harmful impact spans from the manufacturing of the fibres that are spun into fabrics to how we use our clothes and what we do with them at the end of their lifecycle.

The supply chain is long and linear; each stage of clothing manufacturing takes a toll on the environment, from the vast amounts of water needed to cultivate and dye cotton t-shirts to the energy and chemicals used to make synthetic products like polyester. Washing and drying our clothes will consume enormous volumes of water over their lifespan, and washing synthetic clothing releases millions of tonnes of plastic microfibres into the environment.

Then there is the impact when we overhaul our wardrobes.

The vast majority of the fibre used by the clothing industry ends up in landfill or is incinerated. Only 13% of the materials used in clothes are recycled, often into cloths, insulation and mattress stuffing, which are even harder to recycle once they reach their expiry date. Less than 1% of recycled clothing is turned into a new item of clothing.

As with all complex problems, there is no silver bullet solution. Ideally there would be a circular system that could extend the lifespan of garments, shift our material mix toward sustainable materials, and rethink the way in which we collect, treat and reuse discarded items. Devising and implementing such a system will take time, ambition and collaboration.

If we want clothes to last longer, they need to be more durable and we must have better repair services. For example, ranged against the fast fashion leaders such as Zara, ASOS, Forever 21 and Boohoo are companies trying to slow down our rate of fashion consumption such as Patagonia, which repairs 50,000 pieces of outdoor clothing every year, and younger businesses thinking about operating in radically different ways. Adaptable or modular clothing, and personalisation including cutting-edge 3D body scanning technology, are all possible solutions. If an item fits perfectly,

why would you throw it away?

“There are some There a re lots we simple things of reasons to s ppstart could uall ort our wo rk... doing today in order to launch a There are some simple things Wewe encourage move towards more could all start doing today in order to out more people to find launch a move towards more thoughtful about the world.thoughtful clothing clothing consumption. By washing consumption.”

Elsewhere, clothing rental businesses could serve more fashion and budget conscious consumers without the environmental damage associated with the manufacture and disposal of fast fashion items.

garments at lower temperatures, we save energy and help them last longer. Proctor & Gamble, the global consumer goods company, claims that using high-quality detergents together with fabric softenersWe in provide intelligen cold wash cycles can extend the lifespan of garments bycommentary on important issues, an up to four times and reduce the release of environmentallyhelp inform good poli damaging microfibres. Novozymes, a company in which we invest, is taking action to address this. It engineers enzymes for washing products that remove stains and odours at low We celebrate washing temperatures.

inspirational achievements When clothes do inevitably meet the end of their lifespan, and leadership. it becomes a question of how to dispose of them while reducing landfill. This is important because material such as polyester can last up to 200 years and even ‘natural’ fibres produce methane as they decompose. While recycling We promote the stud infrastructure and technologies could be improved, there are of geography, and th examples of innovative ways of keeping materials in use for longer. One example is a company which has devised a wider way ofadoption of thinking. recycling nylon waste from landfill and disused fishing joined-up nets into regenerated nylon fibre that is used by Adidas, H&M and the British luxury designer Stella McCartney, among others.

Follow u s

The challenges confronting the fashion www.rsgs.org industry provide investors with both risks and opportunities. The biggest a small charity, we deliver risks seem to lie withFor many of the fashion giants. They will a huge amount!

To keep up-to-date with our need to innovate, collaborate and maybe even adapt their latest news, please join us, follow us on social propositions and business models over time. By contrast, an media or sign up to our monthly email newsletter. array of innovative businesses pioneering new technologies We are grateful to our corporate for their suppor are, as is often the case, where some of the most benefactors exciting of our broad charitable work. opportunities lie.

Important Information Baillie Gifford & Co Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The views expressed in this article are those of Kate Fox and should not be considered as advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a particular investment. They reflect personal opinion and should not be taken as statements of fact nor should any reliance be placed on them when making investment decisions. This article contains information on investments which does not constitute independent research. Accordingly, it is not subject to the protections afforded to independent research and Baillie Gifford and its staff may have dealt in the investments concerned.

36 Autumn 2019

Sir Patrick Geddes: poverty, plague and the power of a pageant Jo Woolf FRSGS, RSGS Writer-in-Residence

“Dirt can never be destroyed, yet the warfare with it must never cease.” (Patrick Geddes, A Report to the Durbar of Indore, 1918) In the summer of 1917, on the veranda of the Maharaja’s guest house in the city of Indore, central India, a Scotsman pulled a sheaf of paper from under the piles of maps, sketches and books that littered his desk and began to write. Patrick Geddes, 60 years of age, with a wild mop of grey hair and a flourishing beard, had a restless energy which meant that sitting for any prolonged time was a challenge; but he had a job to do, and a highly unusual request to make. Geddes’ courteous host, His Highness Tukoji Rao Holkar, Maharaja of Indore, was in for something of a surprise: in order for Geddes to fulfil his appointed task, he wanted to be made Maharaja for the day. If it so happened that the Maharaja had a white elephant to spare, that would come in very handy as well.

(Prayagraj), Varanasi and Kolkata. On arrival, he would walk all around the town, acquainting himself with its layout; he would study the surrounding geography and geology, and the flow of human traffic as people went about their daily lives.

His approach was instinctive and organic; he saw potential where others saw decay.

In Indore, the situation was acute. The town was dilapidated, overcrowded, and suffering from a chronic lack of sanitation. Rubbish choked the streets, and a rat infestation meant that plague and other diseases were rife. New buildings were needed, and new services to supply them. But Geddes was also acutely conscious that the upkeep of the town – the sweeping of its streets, the maintenance of its amenities – lay in the hands of the townspeople themselves. He wanted to inspire them to action, to prove that they held the power to make their lives better through harmony and cooperation, and he hit on a brilliant means of doing it: through the town’s annual Diwali festival.

“With the eye of a visionary, he saw the essential connections between people and place.”

It was Lord Pentland, Governor of Madras, who first invited Geddes to India. In 1911, as Secretary of State for Scotland, Pentland had seen Geddes’ ‘Cities Exhibition’ at the Royal Scottish Academy, and he wanted to take that exhibition on tour in India. Geddes, by that time, had established a reputation as a scientist like no other. Born in Ballater and raised in Perth, he refused to be placed into the convenient pigeon-holes of academia. His early interests in biology and botany had expanded so that he now embraced all fields of science, as well as the arts; and with the eye of a visionary, he saw the essential connections between people and place. “Town planning,” he declared, “is not mere placeplanning. To be successful, it must be folk planning.” He put his principles into practice by living amongst the povertystricken inhabitants of Edinburgh’s Old Town and helping them to renovate their squalid flats.

Lord Pentland’s request to Geddes involved much more than a touring exhibition. The British Administration needed to address the problems of poor infrastructure and social welfare in cities, and Geddes was their chosen consultant.

Travelling right across India, his ports of call included Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Jaipur, Agra, Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad

Diwali (Divali, Deepavali or Dipavali) is a fiveday festival of light, celebrated every autumn by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs; it coincides with the Hindu New Year, and represents new beginnings.

Realising that the traditional pageant could be adapted to make a powerful graphic impact, Geddes imagined a procession of floats and participants telling a story that would progress by stages from disease and dereliction to wellbeing and renewal. Usually, the person in charge of the pageant was made Maharaja for that day, and luckily Geddes managed to persuade the real Maharaja that his idea was not completely insane. Then, with formal permissions obtained, he threw himself into the preparations with wholehearted vigour.

First, Geddes put out an announcement that the festive procession would not follow the traditional route through the city, but instead it would pass along those streets that were judged to have the cleanest houses. Diwali is often preceded by the spring cleaning of homes, but the extra incentive ensured that a great wave of sweeping, washing, painting and repairing spread through every district of Indore. Free removal

The

37 Geographer14-

Autumn 2019

of rubbish was advertised, and over 6,000 loads were carted away from homes and courtyards. Trees were planted, and gardens and courtyards were tidied. Decorative lamps and garlands were awarded to householders who were considered to have set the best examples, and on the day before the procession Geddes helped to finalise the route.

The Diwali pageant must have been a spectacle to behold. As usual, it opened with bands and marching infantry, followed by all the cavalry, artillery, camels and elephants of Indore State. What followed was the result of Geddes’ fertile brain, combined with the skill and artistry of Indore’s townspeople.

Harvest was the first theme: chariots representing water, Sun and Earth were accompanied by elephants loaded with bags of cotton and carrying merchants in silver howdahs on their backs. After a good harvest came abundance, in the form of Lakshmi, the Goddess of Prosperity, “upon her white elephant with her lotus throne.”

Geddes had desperately wanted a white elephant for Lakshmi to ride on. Disappointed to discover that Indore’s elephants were all a uniform grey, he had hit on the notion of whitewashing one from trunk to tail. The result was dazzling: “a paragon of a white elephant, such as neither king nor goddess had ever ridden before.” While we can only hope that the coating washed off, Maharaja Geddes was delighted.

After the happy scenarios of harvest came apparitions of poverty, war and disease. Carts carrying models of slums, with crumbling walls and broken roofs, were followed by the repulsive spectacles of a Giant of Dirt, some 12 feet high, and an enormous Rat of Plague, complete with a quivering cloud of ‘fleas’ – locusts dipped in ink and mounted on wires. Then, in their wake, to the sound of cheerful music, came symbols of cleansing and health: the town’s 400 road sweepers, all symbolically dressed in white with garlanded brooms, and teams of white oxen pulling freshly painted carts. On impulse, Geddes plucked himself a marigold from a flower garland, stuffed it into his buttonhole, and leaped up into his own cart, which bore the city’s name in bright letters on one side and a plan of the proposed developments on the other.

models of the buildings that Geddes was planning: libraries, museums, theatres, and new domestic dwellings. The town’s labourers, firemen and officials walked proudly in their wake.

Bananas, oranges and papayas were distributed to onlookers, and, from one of the final carts, sacred Tulsi plants were presented to householders whose cleaning efforts had been most appreciated. Almost every street in Indore was visited, and as night fell the pageant wound its way slowly to the public park, where fireworks lit up the sky and the Giant of Dirt and the Rat of Plague were consumed by a bonfire.

“Thus science, which at first sight appeared to destroy old faiths, was seen to renew and fulfil them.” (Patrick Geddes, A Report to the Durbar of Indore, 1918) The transformation was complete. Through a stroke of genius, Indore’s residents and labourers rediscovered their pride in the town, and a sense of wellbeing returned. When the building schemes went ahead, almost all the plots in a new garden suburb were eagerly taken up. Just as importantly, the plague was eradicated, an outcome which was widely attributed to Geddes’ godlike powers.

Geddes’ own satisfaction was blurred with personal sadness.

In the spring of that year he had lost his eldest son in the Great War, and his wife died a few months later in Kolkata.

With unflagging energy he continued to work in India for several years, and in 1919 was appointed Chair of Sociology and Civics at the University of Bombay. 165 years after his birth, he continues to defy definition, but we are beginning to realise the wisdom of his words.

Sir Patrick Geddes was an RSGS Council member in 1895 and 1896, and delivered several lectures on Social Geography.

After him came displays of houses being repaired and painted, and carpenters and brick-makers at work on FURTHER READING Patrick Geddes in India, edited by Jaqueline Tyrwhitt (1947) A Report to the Durbar of Indore, by Patrick Geddes (1918) Patrick Geddes: Social Evolutionist and City Planner, by Helen Meller Think Global, Act Local: The Life and Legacy of Patrick Geddes, edited by Walter Stephen Patrick Geddes and the Maharaja of Indore, from Patrick Geddes in India.

BOOK CLUB

38 Autumn 2019

John C Brown and Rab Wilson (Luath Press Ltd, May 2019) Which Scotsman inspired Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity? Which planet is one-third made of diamond? How big is the Universe?

Find out the answers to these questions and many more in this new book from Astronomer Royal for Scotland John C Brown OBE, and Rab Wilson, renowned Scots poet and NTS Scrieverin-Residence at Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. This fascinating guide to our skies and beyond brings together science and art to convey the beauty of our vast cosmos and its scientific workings. Combining an accessible introduction to astronomy with original space-inspired poetry and haiku, and featuring hundreds of stunning images, it shows you space as you’ve never seen it before.

The Circular Economy Walter R Stahel (Routledge, June 2019) A circular economy seeks to rebuild capital, whether this is financial, manufactured, human, social or natural, and offers opportunities and solutions for all organisations. This concise book is the perfect introduction for anyone wanting to quickly get up to speed with this vitally important topic for ensuring sustainable development. It sets out a new framework that refines the concept of a circular economy and how it can be applied at industrial levels. Stahel presents the key themes for busy managers and policymakers, with some of the newest thinking on the topic, along with practical examples and case studies.

Land of Giants

Queen of the Mountaineers

The Trailblazing Life of Fanny Bullock Workman Cathryn J Prince (Chicago Review Press, May 2019) Fanny Bullock Workman was a complicated and restless woman who defied the rigid Victorian morals she found as restrictive as a corset. Paving the way for a legion of female climbers, she became the first woman to map the far reaches of the Himalayas, and her books, replete with photographs, illustrations, and descriptions of meteorological conditions, glaciology, and the effect of high altitudes on humans, remained useful decades after their publication. Prince reveals how Workman navigated the male-dominated world of alpine clubs and adventure societies as nimbly as she navigated the deep crevasses and icy granite walls of the Himalayas. This is the story of one woman’s role in science and exploration, breaking boundaries and charting frontiers for women everywhere.

9 Lessons in Brexit Ivan Rogers (Short Books Ltd, February 2019) The political debate over Brexit has been intense and complicated. Who and what can we trust? How do we make sense of it all? Ivan Rogers, the UK’s former ambassador to the EU, is uniquely placed to tell some home truths about the failure of the British political class and the flaws, dishonesty and confusion inherent in the UK’s approach to Brexit so far. In this short, elegant essay, he draws up nine lessons that we need to learn from the last few years, if the next few years are not to be even more painful.

Will Burrard-Lucas (Burrard-Lucas Books, March 2019) Deep in the heart of a vast wilderness, some of the rarest creatures on Earth still roam; living relics from a bygone era, they are the last of Africa’s great tuskers. For the first time, these elusive elephants have been subject to an indepth photographic study and are now immortalised in this book.

Will Burrard-Lucas, in partnership with Tsavo Trust and Kenya Wildlife Service, spent months photographing elephants in all corners of the Tsavo Conservation Area. Using the latest technology, including his innovative remote-control BeetleCam, he captured an intimate glimpse into the lives of Tsavo’s elephants and a spectacular photographic record of some remarkable individuals.

RSGS: a better way to see the world Phone 01738 455050 or visit www.rsgs.org to join the RSGS. Lord John Murray House, 15-19 North Port, Perth, PH1 5LU Charity SC015599

Environmental Pollution in China Daniel K Gardner (OUP USA, August 2018) When Deng Xiaoping introduced market reforms in the late 1970s, few would have imagined what the next four decades would bring. China’s GDP has grown on average nearly 10% annually since, and its economy is now the second largest in the world. The material progress of the past 40 years has been staggering. But that progress has come at great cost: the extreme pollution of China’s air, water, and soil has taken a stark toll on human health. Gardner examines the range of economic, social, political, and historical factors contributing to the degradation of China’s environment, and the public and government response to the widespread pollution.

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