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5 October 2018
This week - Compliance Assessment Scheme, new coastal flood warning schemes, waste crime, jobs and more
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Environmental compliance of Scottish business exceeds 90% for third year in a row
Environmental performance amongst Scottish regulated businesses and other organisations in 2017 remained high, with 90.97% of sites recorded as ‘Excellent’, ‘Good’ or ‘Broadly Compliant’, according to results published by SEPA on 5 October 2018.
A key part of SEPA’s Regulatory Strategy, One Planet Prosperity, is to drive all businesses not yet meeting standards into full compliance with the environmental laws in Scotland. SEPA’s Compliance Assessment Scheme (CAS) rates an operator’s environmental performance against their licence conditions. The annual results enable SEPA to take a targeted approach which focuses on high risk operations and under-performing sites more frequently than compliant or low risk activities. <Read more>
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SEPA joins forces with UK agency and industry partners to drive out waste crime
Illegal cross-border waste haulage and disposal is the target of a series of new multi-agency interventions as part of the £3.8m LIFE SMART Waste project, which is led by SEPA and co-funded by the European Union.
In tandem with police forces across Britain and the English, Welsh and Northern Irish environment agencies, the Drive out waste crime initiative involves a series of road stops, site visits and awareness-raising activity to remind hauliers of their responsibilities relating to waste haulage and disposal.
Waste crime is estimated to cost the UK economy around £600m a year and is known to include trans-border activity, including the illegal transport and dumping of waste in Scotland by hauliers travelling from England, Wales and Northern Ireland. <Read more>
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New coastal flood warning schemes significantly enhance resilience of Scottish communities in face of climate change
We recently launched new coastal flood warning schemes for the noth-east coast of Scotland, which will cover 2,589 properties and aims to significantly enhance Scotland’s resilience to coastal flooding.
As Scotland’s national authority for flood forecasting and warning, SEPA operates a 24-hour flood forecasting and warning service to inform first responders, local authorities and emergency services of emerging flood events and the potential impact on local communities and critical infrastructure. Operating 365 days a year, over 300 Flood Alerts and 400 Flood Warnings are issued annually via Floodline directly to 26,944 customers nationwide, with many thousands more accessing them online.
The new warning areas for Orkney and the north-east coast represents a significant investment and enhancement of Scotland’s overall resilience to the impact of climate change and extreme weather.
View our video with Sarah Taylor, a resident of Stromness whose home was devastated by flooding in 2005. She describes how the new Orkney Flood Warning Scheme will help her prepare for any future flooding.
You can sign-up to receive live flood warnings from Floodline on our website.
<Read more>
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Not so pretty vacant. Scottish Land Commission and SEPA target new uses for derelict and vacant land
The Scottish Land Commission and SEPA have launched an innovative partnership and taskforce to transform Scotland’s approach to vacant and derelict land. It will see the two organisations:
- Go beyond regulatory and planning compliance, to develop innovative approaches that will drive transformative - not piecemeal – change.
- Challenge and change the way that Scotland deals with the issue of vacant and derelict land.
- Work with local authorities, other public agencies and organisations in the private and social enterprise sectors to identify the causes and consequences of long-term land vacancy and dereliction.
- Develop a 10 year strategy for eradicating the problem, setting ambitious targets supported at a local and national level.
The Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey (SVDLS) was first set up 30 years ago, yet the amount of registered land has remained virtually static. There are currently around 11,600 hectares, two times the size of the City of Dundee, of derelict and urban vacant land in Scotland. <Read more>
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Official Statistics’ Publication for Scotland - Household waste summary, Waste landfilled, Waste incinerated - January to December 2017
We recently published Official Statistics which provide detail of Household Waste collected across all local authorities during 2017, and for the first time as an official statistic, the carbon impact metric. This is a measure developed by Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS) of the whole-life carbon impacts of waste, from resource extraction and manufacturing emissions, right through to waste management emissions.
Data for every one of Scotland's 32 local authorities are available on our website along with additional commentary for the whole of Scotland.
The statistics show that for the 2017 calendar year, the household waste recycling rate was 45.6%, an increase of 0.6 percentage points from the 45.0% rate achieved in 2016. The total amount of household waste generated in Scotland was 2.46 million tonnes in 2017, a decrease of 38,153 tonnes (1.5%) from 2016, while there was a decrease of 24,848 tonnes (2.2%) in household waste disposed to landfill.
This is the sixth consecutive decrease in household waste landfilled since 2011. For the first time, in 2017 there was more Scottish waste recycled (1.12 million tonnes) than landfilled (1.11 million tonnes). <Read more>
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Stirling landowner ordered to pay £26,388 for waste offences
A Stirling landowner was fined £6,000 and served with a Confiscation Order, under the Proceeds of Crime Act, for £20,388 at Stirling Sheriff Court on 26 September 2018.
The landowner pled guilty to illegally managing and keeping asbestos, plastics and other wastes, at the former Cowie Road Landfill, Bannockburn, without the necessary authorisations from SEPA.
SEPA officers attended the former landfill site on several occasions between 24 July 2015 and 7 December 2015 to assess compliance with the site’s registered exemption. At these visits SEPA officers noted that waste, which did not comply with the exemption, was present on site and also outwith the exemption boundary. <Read more>
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River restoration project to reduce flood risk
An exciting new river restoration project designed to restore the Glazert Water to a more natural condition and minimise the likelihood of flooding in the River Kelvin Catchment downstream is one step closer.
The proposal for the Glazert River Restoration Project in the heart of Lennoxtown is the result of a study commissioned by SEPA and the Scottish Government to restore natural waterways.
The aim is to provide flood risk benefits to the River Kelvin and to reduce the likelihood of flooding to communities in Kirkintilloch and Torrance. The restoration work will physically restore the Glazert watercourse in Lennoxtown.
This will also enhance the water quality and revitalise the wildlife corridor serving the communities of north Kirkintilloch, Milton of Campsie, Lennoxtown, Clachan of Campsie and Haughhead. <Read more>
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Study of the fish population in Loch Ken is published
During 2016 and 2017, Galloway Fisheries Trust undertook a study of the fish, fisheries and anglers of Loch Ken. This was to assess the fish populations in the Loch and the extent to which angling around the loch assists the local economy.
This work sought to better understand the impact of the North American Signal Crayfish on the fish populations and identify recommendations for the future management of the coarse fishery.
The Study was commissioned by the Galloway Glens Landscape Partnership Scheme (‘Galloway Glens Partnership’) as part of the Partnership’s development phase and was managed and funded by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Galloway Glens Partnership. <Read more>
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SEPA's Chief Executive calls on Tayside youngsters to share flooding knowledge
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Get Learning with Scotland's Environment website
The Get Learning pages on Scotland's Environment website is an excellent source of information for teachers, education practitioners and parents looking for authoratative information on the environment.
Information is organised within six easy-to-understand topics to help you find what you need quickly.
The topics – air, water, land, climate, transport and energy – are further split into age levels (from early level to senior phase) to ensure that the information is tailored to your particular needs.
And it’s not just restricted to use with environmental subjects. With data presented in a suitable format for learners, it’s a great tool for information handling and analysing real-life data on any subject. Each of the different topics has a range of real-life data, tables and graphs that can be used in relation to that particular subject or issue.
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Valuing Nature funded research report now available
We have recently published a new report which presents the research to understand business motivations and challenges to increasing and diversifying private investment in the environment. The research on Understanding the potential for co-ordinated private sector investment in natural capital – lessons from the Spey is available on our website as an Executive Summary and full report.
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The following jobs are currently being advertised on our website - apply online now. All closing dates are at midnight.
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