Deposit return scheme for Scotland: SEA

6. The measures decided concerning monitoring

6.1.1 Section 19 of the 2005 Act requires the responsible authority to monitor significant environmental effects of the implementation of the Plan. The responsible authority will be the Scottish Government.

6.1.2 It is not necessary to monitor everything or monitor an effect indefinitely.  Instead, as noted in the SEA guidance^[23], it is “practical to make a clear link between the significant effects predicted within an assessment and the indicators selected to monitor the likely environmental effects”.

6.1.3 The Environmental Report identified a number of significant positive effects for the DRS example scheme 3, which are relevant to the preferred option of the DRS:

• The preferred option is anticipated to yield a national recycling rate for the target items in excess of 90%, which offers a strong opportunity to contribute toward Scottish waste and environmental objectives.
• The preferred option assumes the volume of targeted items littered will fall in relation to the capture rate (i.e. a 90% reduction).  However, research indicates that littering is a complex behavior and in certain contexts, an area which is already littered may be prone to further littering (of non-targeted materials), such as on beaches and in dense urban areas.  
• The preferred option could have cumulative significant positive effects on biodiversity, particularly in respect of those sites protected for their importance to wild birds and marine habitats which are particularly vulnerable to the effects of litter.

6.1.4 The preferred scheme is modelled to contribute a cumulative reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 4,038ktCO₂eq between 2021 and 2046 from the diversion of waste from landfill and incineration.

6.1.5 Monitoring of these aspects can help to answer questions such as:

• Were the Environmental Report assessments of effects accurate?
• Is the DRS contributing to the achievement of the Scottish Government objectives? 
• Are mitigation measures performing as well as expected?
• Are there any unforeseen adverse effects? Are these within acceptable limits, or is remedial action desirable?

6.1.6 For the four topics considered, monitoring will focus on the indicators and sources of information set out in Table 6.1.  

Table 6.1: Adopted Monitoring Measures

6.1.7 The Scottish Government will implement these measures as part of a monitoring framework for the DRS that will include reference to a roadmap of actions and progress indicators.