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Survey Finds Scottish Businesses Support Zero Waste Plans

17 April 2012

Small firms surveyed by the Forum of Private Business generally support the Scottish government's "zero waste" recycling plan for a cleaner, greener economy

The scheme's critics, however, are particularly concerned about how much they will have to spend in compliance costs.

The Forum has submitted evidence to the Scottish Rural Affairs Climate Change and Environment Committee inquiry into the zero-waste proposal - which the Government claims could help SMEs cut costs and increase profits.

In total, 47 percent of business owners on the Forum's Scotland member panel believe the scheme will have a "minimal" impact if adopted and 18 percent feel it will have a "positive" impact.

Reasons cited included improving Scotland's standing overseas and a belief that the initiative could lead to greater investment in recycling facilities for businesses.

The Forum, which sits on Scotland's independent Regulatory Review Group, supports the Government's aims for better regulation and welcomes the publication of the draft Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) - as well as the decision to exempt small business from the food waste requirements until 2015.

However, the not-for-profit employer body is concerned that the BRIA has overestimated the cost benefits for small businesses - with Forum members surveyed fearing its net cost might be greater than anticipated.

Despite the Government's insistence that the scheme could mean bottom line savings, 24 percent of panellists are concerned about the costs they will incur, while 18 percent cited time issues, 13 percent additional red tape and 13 percent infrastructure problems.

Reservations

Specific issues included the time and cost of having to use employees to sort the waste, that firms' infrastructures will not able to support the scheme and that recycling could exclude key waste items such as cardboard or carpets.

According to the survey, some of Scotland's small businesses believe they are already effectively subsidising homeowners for domestic recycling at a time they can least afford it, with the risk that cash-strapped councils will spend the money on social policies.

Storage is also an issue - many firms feel that it would be cheaper and more effective to use a central recycling point.

"We found our Scottish members generally support the Government's zero waste recycling policy and understand the reasons for its introduction, with many feeling businesses have been lagging behind households in this area for some time," said the Forum's Head of Campaigns, Jane Bennett.　

"A number of respondents feel that businesses are behind in terms of recycling and believe they had a duty to protect the environment, meaning they are generally willing to bear the associated costs of implementing the policy - although not everyone shares that sentiment.

"There are certainly some concerns about the impact of the policy, particularly in terms of time and cost when it comes to compliance."

www.fpb.org

Darrel Moore