Scottish Government consultations

We asked for views on an updated waste ‘Duty of Care Code of Practice for managing controlled waste’ and publish associated documents. The updated Code of Practice implements a Scottish Government commitment to require collection of plastic films for recycling from businesses from 31 March 2027.

We received 26 responses to this consultation. Of these, 2 responded as individuals and 24 on behalf of an organisation. A full set of responses to this consultation can be viewed through the 'Published responses' link below.

A summary of consultation answers and the government response has been published on the Scottish Government website. The document can be found here: Duty of Care: Code of Practice for Managing Controlled Waste consultation - Government Response - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

We asked for views on a draft Circular Economy Strategy for Scotland. The consultation was held between 21 October 2025 and 13 January 2026. The draft strategy set out the overarching framework for Scotland’s transition to a more circular economy, setting out our vision, key outcomes and priority areas for action across sectors and policy mechanisms.

We received 190 responses from public sector, private sector, charitable and international organisations and individual respondents. We also received over 1200 campaign responses from Friends of the Earth Scotland. Feedback from the consultation was largely positive with a large number of respondents agreeing with the vision and outcomes in principle, and overall there was general support for the draft strategy’s aims and content. Headline findings include:

• 82% either agreed or strongly agreed with the vision and outcomes.
• 73% either agreed or strongly agreed with the policy mechanisms.
• 71% either agreed or strongly agreed with the priority sectors.

An independent analysis was carried out of consultation responses.

A detailed report of the consultation process and how responses were taken into account has been published. Headline updates to the strategy include:

• The vision and outcomes were updated, in particular to recognise tackling consumption and international impacts.
• Producer responsibility text was updated to provide more clarity and make explicit reference to the importance of reuse and repair, for example.
• We emphasised the importance of plastics, chemicals and electronics and explained why we are considering these as part of our wider sector and product approach rather than as standalone sectors.
• Updated wording around international impacts was included.
• An additional ‘due diligence’ policy mechanism and related priority was included.

We invited feedback on an updated version of Environmental Standards Scotland’s (ESS’) draft Strategy for 2026-2031. The Strategy sets out ESS’ approach to delivering our functions over the next five years. Our consultation sought views on updated aspects of the draft to inform the preparation of a final version to be submitted to the Scottish Parliament for approval.

We received 17 responses to the consultation from a variety of organisations and individuals. We are grateful to all those who took the time to give us their views. All of the responses have been considered and have informed the preparation of a final version of the Strategy that has been submitted to the Scottish Parliament for approval. A summary of the responses has been prepared and is available on our website.

All of the responses were considered and have helped to inform the preparation of a final version of the Proposed Strategy that was submitted to the Scottish Parliament for approval on 5 February 2026. The Scottish Parliament now has 40 days to consider the Strategy and determine whether to approve it. If approved the Strategy will then be published on ESS’ website and will guide our work between 2026 and 2031.

We have made a number of changes to the Strategy to reflect the feedback and suggestions made by consultees, including providing greater clarity on certain aspects of our approach to delivering our functions. Alongside our proposed Strategy, we have laid an Accompanying Statement that summarises this feedback and sets out how it was taken into account in preparing the Strategy that has been laid in the Parliament.