Introduction
The Environmental Protection Act 1990 (the Act) imposes a duty on local authorities and certain other landowners and occupiers (the duty bodies) to keep specified land clear of litter and refuse so far as is practicable. The Act also places a duty on local authorities or Scottish Ministers to keep public roads clean so far as is practicable. This publication provides practical guidance on the discharge of these duties.
The first part of this publication is a Code of Practice issued under section 89(7) of the Act. Where land is defaced by litter or refuse and action is taken in court under section 91 or 92 of the Act, this Code of Practice is admissible in evidence in the proceedings.
The Code of Practice defines standards of cleanliness which are achievable in different locations and under differing circumstances. It is concerned with how clean land is, rather than how often it is swept. The Code of Practice does not, therefore, suggest cleaning frequencies. Rather, it sets out how quickly different types of land should be returned to a set cleanliness standard.
The second part of this publication provides guidance on ensuring litter management is approached in an holistic manner, tackling service provision, awareness raising and campaigning, and enforcement. Advice is given in a menu of options for tackling litter problems in a variety of areas, from town centres to beaches. An holistic approach to litter management has a range of benefits for service providers, the public, the business community and enforcement agencies:
- each knows what to expect of service providers and what is expected of them in turn,
- each duty body knows the minimum level of service required and their own individual obligations
Parts I and II of this publication are supported by Part III which is a web-based good practice guide. This guide can be viewed at www.littercode.org.
The production of this Code of Practice follows a review of the litter and flytipping provisions of the Act by the consultants, Environmental Resources Management ( ERM), commissioned by the Scottish Executive. An Advisory Group consisting of representatives from COSLA, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency ( SEPA), Keep Scotland Beautiful and the Scottish Executive oversaw the review. The review found that there are no fundamental difficulties with litter legislation, but that straightforward, clear guidance should be provided.
Following this review, Keep Scotland Beautiful was commissioned to co-ordinate the updating of the Code of Practice. This process involved a year-long consultation exercise with all Scottish local authorities and other duty bodies, as well as enforcement bodies, other interested parties and bodies that could, potentially, have duties under the code.
In the main, the standards of cleanliness, zoning and response times remain unchanged, although the information relating to non-local authority duty bodies has been clarified. Part II now includes information relating to education, campaigning, and, specifically, enforcement options. Part III is now a supporting web-based good practice guide.
This Code of Practice is issued in replacement of the Code of Practice 1999, which is hereby withdrawn in respect of Scotland.