Author: Jackie.McCabe

On 31 March 2022, the Scottish Government announced the formation of an advisory group that will shape plans for mandatory charges on coffee cups and other single-use disposable beverage containers, work on which had been on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The charge is expected to come into effect during the course of this parliament.

The group will contain representatives from every stage of the supply chain, from manufacturers and distributors through small and large retailers, as well as consumer groups, environmental NGOs, equalities groups and academics.

It is believed charging for single-use cups will help encourage people to make the move to reusable alternatives, as well as supporting the shift towards a more circular economy.

An expert panel on environmental charging and other measures had previously recommended the introduction of a national, mandatory requirement to sell beverages and disposable cups separately, including an initial minimum price of between 20 to 25p per cup.

An estimated 200 million single-use disposable beverage cups are used every year in Scotland, with this figure expected to rise to 310 million by 2025. At present, Zero Waste Scotland estimate that disposable cups generate around 4,000 tonnes of waste each year, with around 40,000 of these cups littered in Scotland every year. Due to their waterproof plastic lining, they can be hard to recycle, resulting in most of them being incinerated or sent to landfill.

As part of recently announced packaging reforms, larger coffee shops, fast food chains and others who sell drinks in disposable paper cups will have to provide a dedicated bin to collect and recycle these from 2024.

Circular Economy Minister Lorna Slater said:

“Single-use coffee cups are a classic example of the throwaway culture that we are taking action to tackle. 

“Lots of people already carry a reusable cup with them, but hundreds of millions of single-use cups are still being wasted every single year.

“Evidence shows that a small charge on single-use cups can be hugely effective in encouraging people to switch to a reusable alternative.

“I look forward to working with experts representing business, the environment and consumers to take forward this important measure. Alongside Scotland’s deposit return scheme, which will recycle nearly two billion bottles and cans every year, and our action to ban some of the most problematic single-use plastics, this will make a vital contribution to reducing the amount of waste generated in the country.”

Eat Well Age Well report on Round 2 of their Small Ideas, Big Impact Fund highlights the positive impact of projects which received funding to help support older people to live well via food, with several of the projects using funding to provide REHIS Eating Well for Older People (EWfOP) training. 

The training means that the people and organisations working directly with older adults in their homes and communities understand the issues that affect them the most and can recognise change. The regular contact and trusting relationships community organisations have with the older people they work with also makes them best placed to have conversations about eating and drinking well.

To tackle and prevent malnutrition Eat Well Age Well have developed and delivered The Small Ideas Big Impact Fund (SIBI) which aimed to encourage people across Scotland to test out new ideas to help prevent, detect and/or treat malnutrition in older people aged 65 years and over.

The Small Ideas, Big Impact Fund – Round 2 Report highlights the impact of work completed throughout the period of May 2019 – January 2021 and is based on 22 projects which received funding. 

Funds between £50 to £5000 were available to test out or extend initiatives which help prevent, detect and/or treat malnutrition in older people, and the fund was specifically designed for individuals, community groups, social enterprises, charities and public-sector workers. 

The funded projects supported 27 staff and volunteers from 16 projects to take part in either REHIS Eating Well for Older People (EWfOP) training or EWAW’s Raising the Issue of Malnutrition. 

Funded activities have had an impact in the following ways:
• Increased food access
• Identified and addressed malnutrition
• Increased health and wellbeing
• Decreased social isolation and loneliness

The Institute now have a company page on LinkedIn.

Members and those who are interested are encouraged to follow the page for regular updates.

You can find the company page here.

We are delighted to announce the Institute will present this year’s Annual Environmental Health Forum as a Hybrid event based at the Aberdeen Science Centre on Thursday 16 June 2022.

We have an exciting programme planned and the Forum will provide an ideal opportunity for the Environmental Health community in Scotland to:

• Listen to an excellent line up of speakers covering a wide range of topical updates relevant to professionals working in both the public and private sectors
• Hear about all the recent updates and changes
• Meet fellow Environmental Health professionals, REHIS members and REHIS staff
• Celebrate with the award winners and achievers

The full programme and booking details are available here

Scientists at the University of Glasgow and partner institutes have developed an inexpensive, fast and simple way to identify the ageing mosquitos which transmit the deadly malaria parasite.

It uses infrared technology and artificial intelligence to accurately identify the age and species of malaria mosquitoes. Only mosquitoes which live to about 10 days can transmit malaria therfore knowing the age of a mosquito can help inform the risk of disease. 

Around 40,000 mosquitoes from East and West Africa were used in the study. By shining infrared light on individual mosquitoes, scientists could identify the chemical changes of ageing mosquitos using an AI algorithm and validate their age predictions on wild mosquitoes with current methods, achieving similar results.

The study was led by the University of Glasgow-Institute of Biodiversity Animal Health and Comparative Medicine (IBAHCM) and School of Chemistry, and the Ifakara Health Instititute (IHI) in Tanzania and the Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé (IRSS) in Burkina Faso. 

Doreen Siria, lead author from the Ifakara instititute, said: “Until now, the only way to know the age of a mosquito was via complex dissection to gauge the age of female mosquito ovaries – a process which is expensive, time-consuming and can’t be done at scale.”

Dr Francesco Baldini, from the University of Glasgow, added: “We believe this new method is greatly needed in the fight against malaria, a disease which continues to kill many people and children each year. 

“With this infrared technology we have developed a tool that has the potential to be scaled up, and would greatly help in testing new products and solutions against diseases transmitted by mosquitoes.

“This approach could also be applied to other diseases, and could be used to evaluate the attempts to limit the expansion of invasive mosquito species across Europe and the United States.”

In 2020, there were an estimated 241 million cases of malaria worldwide, according to the WHO, killing around 627,000 people; and while there are vector controls in place to reduce the numbers of mosquitos that transmit the disease in certain parts of the world -such as insecticides or bed nets – the effectiveness of these interventions can be hard to measure.

Legal requirements to wear face coverings on public transport and most indoor public settings will continue until at least early April given the current spike in Covid case numbers.

Remaining legal requirements for businesses and service providers to collect customer details for contact tracing, and to have regard to and take reasonable measures set out in Covid guidance, will end as planned on Monday 21 March.

The First Minister also confirmed that people without COVID-19 symptoms will no longer be asked to take regular lateral flow tests tests from 18 April. The change forms part of the Test and Protect Transition Plan, which sets out how testing will become more targeted, with the aim of reducing serious harm from COVID-19. 

The changes to Test and Protect mean that from 18 April:

• most people without symptoms will no longer be asked to take COVID-19 tests
• free lateral flow devices (LFDs) for the purposes of twice weekly routine testing will no longer be available for the general population given the changing advice, but will continue to be free for any purpose for which testing continues to be advised – for clinical care, for health and social care workers and for people visiting vulnerable individuals in care homes or hospitals
• until the end of April, people with symptoms should still isolate and get a PCR test
• vaccinated close contacts of someone with COVID-19 should continue to test daily for seven days with LFDs

People who have symptoms of COVID-19 will still be able to book PCR tests in the usual way until 30 April. From that date, test sites will close and people with symptoms will no longer be advised that they need to seek a test. The public health advice for people who feel unwell will be to stay at home until they feel better, to reduce the risk of infecting other people.

The First Minister thanked the frontline Test and Protect workforce for their efforts throughout the pandemic. Work is on-going to support staff to explore other opportunities in the public and private sector.