Scotland can gain an economic advantage by becoming the champion of the sustainable economy. We have an extraordinary resource base for renewables; with 8.65% of the UK population, we generate 32% of its renewable energy. Few countries in the world can come close to our renewables potential. We have over 7,200 megawatts of renewable energy capacity in Scotland and, where as we may be approaching 45% of our onshore wind capacity, we are well below 1% of our 400% larger offshore wind, wave and tidal flow energy production capacity.
Scotland needs to be seen as the nation putting the environmental concerns back on the agenda on a global basis. This would have economic benefits that go way beyond renewable energy. Our tourism, food and drink (especially whisky), biotech, recycling and related manufacturing industries would benefit from adding some “serious green” to brand Scotland.
To make a significant difference to perceptions it should be a stated aim of the Scottish Government to be globally recognised as the nation that is the champion of environmental sustainability. Sure, the UK Government putting all of its eggs in the nuclear basket and cutting renewables grants throws a bit of spanner in the works but there are terrible areas of waste to address and policy examples from around the world to learn from. The plastic bag tax was a great start, with usage down 80% since late October, demonstrating that Scottish consumers are more open to changing environmental habits. Even those who have paid the 5p have helped the environment with Marks & Spencer raising £214,374 for environmental causes such as the the Orkney Sustainable Fishery, the Marine Conservation Society and WWF.
Sticking with retailers France has led the way on retail food waste. Realising that the average French person throws away 25kg of food a year, a third of which is still in its packaging, the French Government is on a drive to half food waste. French Supermarkets are now obliged to donate food deemed too close to sell-by dates to charities or to be used for animal feed. That’s a law that should quickly be passed by the Scottish Parliament.
Supermarkets manage to throw away 200,000 tonnes of food a year. However retailers are only responsible for 5% of food waste, most food waste (42%) is down to consumers. Putting the French and the rest of the EU to shame UK consumers throw away 10% of our weekly food shop uneaten and Scots do that more often than the rest of the UK. Having spent 8 years in the Food industry including FTSE 100 Food giant Northern Foods, take it from me the “consume by” date does not mean you will be poisoned, it is often deliberately shorted to make you throw away food and buy more. At best food companies and retailers put a date on food when they think the texture won’t give you the best eating experience. For example, at Northern Foods we put a March “use by” date on Christmas puddings so you would have to buy new puddings each year. I regularly aged the high alcohol puddings a year past their sell-by date to make them taste better. This again needs policy intervention on labelling, as you definitely shouldn’t eat an oyster two weeks out of date, but overly strict or commercial driven ‘use by’ dates are generating millions of tonnes of unnecessary waste every year.
I would also like to see supermarkets forced to ensure that 20% of all the fruit and veg sold is misshapen. No really, supermarkets have identified that consumers won’t buy ugly fruit and veg, so 40% of all UK-grown fruit and veg is thrown away because it’s not aesthetically pleasing – insert your variation of the ‘starving Africans’ comment your mother used to say. French supermarket Intermarché is leading the way with an ugly fruit stand selling at a 30% discount. Jamie Oliver has also worked with ASDA to trial a new “Beautiful on the Inside” range of misshapen produce. Sometimes you have to throw away though and plaudits to Glasgow City Council whose grey food bin recycling trial will be rolled out to all main door properties in the city from March 2016 then everyone else from May. OK, so not the first example of food recycling but keeping food waste out of landfills where it creates methane gas, one of the worst greenhouse gases, has to become more of a priority.
Saving the planet, saving money, addressing food poverty, positioning Scotland at the forefront of ethical sustainable development and food waste minimalisation, whats not to like? It is time for the Scottish Parliament to act to put Scotland at the forefront of the post–recession green renaissance.
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The UK Government has failed to answer for its change on the commitments to renewable subsidies and one suspects this kind of unprecedented change in policy has other reasons at its root. Considering how the Independence referendum was impacted by the Better Together commitments to one nation, pooling and sharing promises is their action on such significant Scottish renewable strategies not sufficient a change to justify Scotland trying to go on its own again? This article highlights how much is at stake for our small country on a European and World scale and once again the English dominance in the union is potentially short changing Scotland. I feel that we have no other recourse to control such significant potential and we cannot trust the Tory Government who have a already shown a disregard for anything outside their own agendas.
Aberdeenshire also has food recycling service. All food waste goes to local company Keenan recycling for composting which is then used by local farmers. This not only reduces fertiliser use (hugely energy inefficient) but also transportation and landfill costs.