Additional charges for single use items

It worked with plastic bags so why not other items? I think a surcharge on single use items, where there is a viable reusable alternative, makes good sense.

I tend to sway towards restricting (ban or huge levy) all single use items unless it fills a need that is not currently catered for. In the instance that single use items are useful due to cost implications then we need to be looking at bringing down the cost of the sustainable item. For example, disposable razors: this doesn't fill a need that isn't currently catered for but they are cheap whereas non disposable razors or electric shavers are very expensive. Examples like this need a carrot AND stick approach. If there's a levy or ban on the disposable then action needs to be taken to make the sustainable options easier/cheaper to get. Another example which is getting a lot of press at the moment is disposable vapes. Again this doesn't fill a need that isn't currently catered for. This example also has the public health issue that shops that have no clue about them & don't care who they sell to, sell them because they're cheap to buy, they sell fast & generate big profits. As for single use cups, I'd be more likely to suggest a ban on all of them apart from those that are biodegradable that way at least those that end up in the waste stream would be less harmful/easier to recycle.

Overconsumption is the single biggest threat society is facing; creating increasing levels of greenhouse gasses, contributing to global warming and rapid depletion of the earths resources. If we care about the future of our planet we must act. Single use items are a major contributor to the problems and many are either unecessary (such as drink straws - banning plastic ones simply shifts the issue into another material) or have valid reusable alternatives.

I do agree with this but yet again why is it always the end point consumer, will supermarkets and production lines be fined for still using a single use vessel when we all know there is an alternative for everything? If we done both, then we would see a great reduction.

As per other comments, this was helpful for bags which have now been phased out. I would also ban the plastic versions of these items (e.g. only wooden single use cutlery, takeaway containers) and have a fund where the single use-charge would be spent on reducing the costs of more environmentally friendly alternatives. I think for cups in particular a high charge could be levied on the basis that it is really easy for people to bring a refillable cup or bottle, or for market stalls to provide a refillable mug in the style of German Christmas markets where it can be returned for a refund or kept as a souvenir.

Introducing a charge for single-use disposable cups, and other single-use items, should be done as swiftly as possible without draining resources for other, more impactful circular economy measures We don’t have time to change our economy one product at a time The Circular Economy Bill must create system change to make material use fairer and more sustainable across our whole economy - that means strong carbon-based consumption reduction targets and a strategy which recognises the need for a just transition It is vital to urgently close gaps in Scotland’s climate targets, which ignores the carbon impact of imports - the best way to do this is to create carbon-based consumption reduction targets in the Circular Economy Bill

A charge for single use disposable cups would be great however we don’t have time to change our economy one product at a time. This action can't exist on its own. The Circular Economy Bill must create system change to make material use fairer and more sustainable across our whole economy - that means strong carbon-based consumption reduction targets and a strategy which recognises the need for a just transition.

We need to move towards a circular economy and any single-use beverage cups along with other any single-use plastic items (e.g. disposable vapes, wipes) do not deliver for a circular economy, so why are they still being considered as part of our future? If Scottish Government is not bold enough to ban these items, then reward businesses who are encouraging reuse and use that as the incentive to get all businesses to switch rather than relying on change of individuals behaviour. Focus on the retailer.

(1) Introducing a charge for single-use disposable cups, and other single-use items, should be done as swiftly as possible without draining resources for other, more impactful circular economy measures. (2) We don’t have time to change our economy one product at a time. (3) The Circular Economy Bill must create system change to make material use fairer and more sustainable across our whole economy - that means strong carbon-based consumption reduction targets and a strategy which recognises the need for a just transition. (4) It is vital to urgently close gaps in Scotland’s climate targets, which ignore the carbon impact of imports - the best way to do this is to create carbon-based consumption reduction targets in the Circular Economy Bill

The wording is not clear, who are the additional charges for? I do not think they should be for the end consumer but rather for the manufacturer. Also rather than a charge I would be more supportive of an outright ban

The levels of single-use disposable items and packaging remain very high, and I support systemic action to tackle this. I would like additional charges where possible to be aimed at the companies making / packaging / selling the items, rather than at the consumers. There is already huge wealth inequality in Scotland, and often single-use items are the only affordable option for those with low income. An additional charge to the consumer would place a disproportionate financial burden on those already struggling. Also recent research in to the plastic bag charge showed that while the sales of single use bags fell dramatically, the sales and disposal of "bag for life" bags increased a similar amount, and the actual mass of plastic ending up in landfill increased following the introduction of this charge. The wider implications of a charge like this must be considered carefully, and the companies profiting from the single-use culture chosen as the main target of any charges.

Introducing a charge for single-use disposable cups, and other single-use items, should be done as swiftly as possible without draining resources for other, more impactful circular economy measures We don’t have time to change our economy one product at a time The Circular Economy Bill must create system change to make material use fairer and more sustainable across our whole economy - that means strong carbon-based consumption reduction targets and a strategy which recognises the need for a just transition It is vital to urgently close gaps in Scotland’s climate targets, which ignores the carbon impact of imports - the best way to do this is to create carbon-based consumption reduction targets in the Circular Economy Bill

The sooner we have a charge the better

It is not the whole solution but it will concentrate the attention of all points in the supply chain, hopefully leading to a reduction in the production of single use items

We don’t have time to change our economy one product at a time

The Circular Economy Bill must create system change to make material use fairer and more sustainable across our whole economy - that means strong carbon-based consumption reduction targets and a strategy which recognises the need for a just transition

I think we should go further than this though and stop enabling the use of single use plastics.

There are plenty of reusable cups people can but and take to shops/cafes

Overall I agree with charging for single use items. However it needs to be introduced for all single-use items at once, not just starting with one type at a time. There is no time to waste on this and the Government should be reducing single use items now!

In principle, but the manufacturers need pressure to change, not just onus on the public. Surcharge on single use cups useful start, moving to a ban in time. Emphasis on recyclable cups, or push price reduction if own reusable cup used. Some did this a few years ago.

At the moment, businesses think they are "doing the right thing" by switching to compostable or bioplastics for cups and other items, and this also makes consumers feel less concerned about using these items. However compostable items are rarely disposed of in a way which allows them to compost, and bioplastics can break down into chemicals which affect animal and human health, and both have environmental implications at the production stage too, so neither of these "solutions" are actually much (if any) better than petroleum plastic items. Charging for all single use items would send the simple message that we need to reduce single use items rather than just switch to a "greener" alternative, and create proper behaviour change.

Introducing a charge for single-use disposable cups, and other single-use items, should be done as swiftly as possible without draining resources for other, more impactful circular economy measures We don’t have time to change our economy one product at a time The Circular Economy Bill must create system change to make material use fairer and more sustainable across our whole economy - that means strong carbon-based consumption reduction targets and a strategy which recognises the need for a just transition It is vital to urgently close gaps in Scotland’s climate targets, which ignores the carbon impact of imports - the best way to do this is to create carbon-based consumption reduction targets in the Circular Economy Bill

Once again the consumer is the one being asked to hold up the standards and effect the changes we ALL need to accept. Start with the manufacturers and the retailers. This will alert and encourage - if not actually force- the end user to think twice and Bring Your Own. I still see many, many shoppers in supermarkets choosing the brand new bag for life option rather than re-using their old ones or using non-plastic bags. If there were no plastic bags, they wouldnt have the option. Ditto every other single use and non-recyclable (including so called bio-degradeables which even shredded, are still uncomposted one year later in my bin!) If we are to be serious about a Circular economy, we cant mess about with one piffling product at a time. Scotland’s climate targets ignore the carbon impact of imports : we need to focus on strong carbon-based consumption reduction targets and a strategy in the Circular Economy Bill which recognises the need for a just transition.

It does not go far enough. No-one should be manufacturing single-use items such as coffee cups. The vast majority of all items should be at the very least easy to recycle or preferably re-used.

This seems to more punish the user than punish the manufacturer so during the time of cost of living companies will just increase the charge of their products as opposed to actually making a change if it is going to cost them more to do so. this will mean the public that are already struggling with the cost of groceries and other products will be put under even more pressure financially there has to be balance between the helping the environment and then the impact it will have on the public financially. a better way would be to fine companies for producing or using single use items in their products, also return schemes for packaging with a solid infrastructure on collecting the returned items would be a better option

This needs to be done at a much faster rate, and not just as one product at a time. Unless they are for medically exempted items, no plastic items should be produced as single use items. I live next door to a bookies and pick up an average of three (effectively) single use plastic pens from outside their door every day. If we are to go down the road of banning single use plastic items one at a time, it would be years before such niche items were banned and in that time millions of them would end up clogging up our streams, rivers, seas and the air ducts of wild creatures.

Introducing a charge for single-use disposable cups, and other single-use items, should be done as swiftly as possible without draining resources for other, more impactful circular economy measures.

Absolutely agree. Single use and excess packaging is choking our environment, the effects of which will be around for decades if not centuries. Our addition to convenience needs to be curved at the source. Incentives for genuine biodegradable packaging would be a good start.

Resources are finite but human wants are infinite. What should be done with stocks of disposable items that shops, restaurants, etc have in stock?

Because manufacturers need to be encouraged to develop sustainable alternatives rather than change the behaviour of the public - single use plastic needs to be prevented from being manufactured. Go downstream of the issue and fix the problem, not the symptoms

The current situation where PLA-based single-use beverage cups are allowed is not sustainable, since these items almost never end up being composted in real world settings, still consume a lot of resources to produce and have a relatively high carbon footprint. The right infrastructure to collect and compost them doesn't currently exist at scale and most consumers just put them in landfill bins anyway - and they won't break down in landfill. Most consumers don't understand this and think "compostable"/"plant-based" single-use cups are environmentally-friendly. The only genuinely sustainable solution is to move away from single-use items like this, soemething that the charge should help. However, in addition to the charge, support should be provided to promote the use of reusable cups, whether it be consumers bringing their own or schemes like the NC500 one.

We need to eliminate single-use items urgently

Just stop making single use stuff. Set a date & force manufacturing to change as they surely won't without some foce.

The environmental impact of single use items is huge

I would prefer to see more single use items included in the Bill, particularly those made from plastic.

Introducing a charge for single-use disposable cups, and other single-use items, should be done as swiftly as possible without draining resources for other, more impactful circular economy measures We don’t have time to change our economy one product at a time The Circular Economy Bill must create system change to make material use fairer and more sustainable across our whole economy - that means strong carbon-based consumption reduction targets and a strategy which recognises the need for a just transition It is vital to urgently close gaps in Scotland’s climate targets, which ignores the carbon impact of imports - the best way to do this is to create carbon-based consumption reduction targets in the Circular Economy Bill

Introducing a charge for single-use disposable cups, and other single-use items, should be done as swiftly as possible without draining resources for other, more impactful circular economy measures We don’t have time to change our economy one product at a time The Circular Economy Bill must create system change to make material use fairer and more sustainable across our whole economy - that means strong carbon-based consumption reduction targets and a strategy which recognises the need for a just transition It is vital to urgently close gaps in Scotland’s climate targets, which ignores the carbon impact of imports - the best way to do this is to create carbon-based consumption reduction targets in the Circular Economy Bill

It is vital to urgently close gaps in Scotland’s climate targets, which ignores the carbon impact of imports - the best way to do this is to create carbon-based consumption reduction targets in the Circular Economy Bill

We need to address all single use items quickly, not only cups. We don't have time to fix this item by item. The Circular Economy Bill needs to introduce a system that reduces carbon-based consumption throughout our economy, and we need targets for this. We must act with urgency, and must include the carbon impacts of imported goods.

it should help to drive change. That said this would only make a marginal improvement unless its one action as part of a systematic approach to removing carbon intensive materials from our economy. There needs to be strong incentives and targets to limit the availability of single use items - once charging becomes normalised consumption is likely to increase again

Introducing a charge for single-use disposable cups, and other single-use items, should be done as swiftly as possible without draining resources for other, more impactful circular economy measures We don’t have time to change our economy one product at a time The Circular Economy Bill must create system change to make material use fairer and more sustainable across our whole economy - that means strong carbon-based consumption reduction targets and a strategy which recognises the need for a just transition It is vital to urgently close gaps in Scotland’s climate targets, which ignores the carbon impact of imports - the best way to do this is to create carbon-based consumption reduction targets in the Circular Economy Bill

Introducing a charge for single-use disposable cups, and other single-use items, should be done as swiftly as possible without draining resources for other, more impactful circular economy measures We don’t have time to change our economy one product at a time The Circular Economy Bill must create system change to make material use fairer and more sustainable across our whole economy - that means strong carbon-based consumption reduction targets and a strategy which recognises the need for a just transition It is vital to urgently close gaps in Scotland’s climate targets, which ignores the carbon impact of imports - the best way to do this is to create carbon-based consumption reduction targets in the Circular Economy Bill

Introducing a charge for single-use disposable cups, and other single-use items, should be done as quickly as possible without draining resources for other, more impactful circular economy measures

Benefits are numerous- less resources, less waste. Should be on all fast food related items

Introducing a charge for single-use disposable cups, and other single-use items, should be done as swiftly as possible without draining resources for other, more impactful circular economy measures.

Introducing a charge for single-use disposable cups, and other single-use items, should be done as swiftly as possible without draining resources for other, more impactful circular economy measures We don’t have time to change our economy one product at a time The Circular Economy Bill must create system change to make material use fairer and more sustainable across our whole economy - that means strong carbon-based consumption reduction targets and a strategy which recognises the need for a just transition It is vital to urgently close gaps in Scotland’s climate targets, which ignores the carbon impact of imports - the best way to do this is to create carbon-based consumption reduction targets in the Circular Economy Bill

Single use plastic should be outright banned for use and sale. Charging for single use plastic will cost low income households more that middle and high income. This cost should not be imposed more on lower income people who has less choice in what they purchase.

We need to start charging for single use plastic items to reduce their usage and help people realise their real cost to the environment. We need to do this across the board not introduce piecemeal changes one item at a time