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Free training – enhance your CV, save your business money and improve environmental performance

Is your workplace as green as it could be? Do you want to help your colleagues save energy, reduce waste and recycle better? 

You can learn how to grow a greener, more profitable business at one of Resource Efficient Scotland’s Green Champions training events this March. 

By attending the workshop you’ll join the 1,500 professionals who have already become Green Champions and are making their businesses greener. You’ll find out about available funding, understand the changing resource landscape and go beyond compliance to save money, grow profits and increase competitive advantage.

Training is taking place in Aberdeen, Inverness, Glasgow and Edinburgh (and by webinar). Book your place here. 

West Lothian Council’s Environmental Health team was recognised as being the best performing Environmental Health team in the UK at the 2019 Association of Public Service Excellence (APSE) awards, held recently.

The team were also finalists in the most improved service category of the awards. These awards are made by APSE as part of the annual benchmarking information submitted by local authorities throughout the UK.

Executive councillor for the environment Tom Conn said: “Congratulations to our dedicated Environmental Health team on this prestigious national award. To be recognised as the best performing service in the UK by APSE demonstrates the excellent service the team offers on behalf of local residents.”

The benchmarking information compares local authorities costs, service delivery and outputs in a number of different areas. The APSE performance measures allows comparison between councils across a range of factors including customer satisfaction, enforcement activities and service costs. 

Environmental Health and Trading Standards manager Craig Smith said: “We are delighted with this award, which is the culmination of continuous improvements in service delivery over recent years.

“The award was achieved thanks to the dedication and hard work of our officers, as we continue to achieve a high level of service, while being one of lowest costing Environmental Health teams in the UK.”

APSE chief executive Paul O’Brien said: “With the ongoing pressures on council finances now is not the time to let up on the need for effective performance management.

“By using the hard evidence of data collected across the largest voluntary benchmarking service in UK local councils, we know that these winners and finalists in the APSE Performance Networks Awards 2019 are amongst the best in local government.”

Non- healthcare professionals will need a licence granted by Environmental Health Officers, to carry out cosmetic procedures such as dermal fillers or lip enhancements under proposals being put forward by the Scottish Government.

Treatments, such as dermal fillers or lip enhancements, are currently available in premises such as aesthetic clinics, beauty salons, hairdressers and other similar locations.

Non-surgical treatments such as Botox and fillers account for nine out of 10 cosmetic procedures in the UK and are worth about £2.75bn a year.

However, the non-surgical cosmetic industry is almost entirely unregulated.

The Scottish Government propose that those who are not qualified healthcare professionals and who provide higher risk, non-surgical cosmetic procedures that pierce/penetrate the skin are regulated by licence under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.

It is proposed that a licence will be required for carrying on a business which provides cosmetic procedures such as dermal fillers, lip enhancements. 

It is intended that the licences would be similar to those required by tattoo parlours, so that local authority Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) would visit the premises and assess them against the specified conditions before a licence is granted.

When considering the license EHOs would assess whether the applicant is fit and proper person, where the applicant’s knowledge, skill, training and experience would be taken into account. 

The Scottish Government is seeking views from the public and interested parties in a consultation that will run until the end of April this year.

Public Health Minister Joe FitzPatrick said:

“We are committed to patient safety and want to ensure that all those who carry out non-surgical procedures, such as dermal fillers or lip enhancements, are competent and that the treatments take place in safe and hygienic premises.

“We plan to introduce regulations later this year and invite members of the public and interested parties to give their views as part of the consultation on our proposals.”

“In the meantime, we urge anyone considering any kind of cosmetic surgery to visit the Health Improvement Scotland website for regulated and approved providers.”

Scotland is to be part of an initiative aimed at improving the detection and treatment of tick-borne diseases.

NHS Highland health board has agreed to become involved in the EU NorthTick research project hopes to develop new tests to make diagnosis of diseases easier and also develop more targeted antibiotics.

NHS Highland is one of ten partners from seven European countries collaborating to develop tools to meet the challenges of tick-borne diseases.

There has been an increase in people affected by tick-borne disease in recent decades, with the reasons for this including climate change, increased urbanisation and other human impacts on the ecosystem.

The main aims of NorthTick are to increase awareness and stimulate the public sector towards generate innovative ideas and solutions for improving how tick-borne diseases are treated. The project is set to run for three and a half years.

The work will include looking at prevention measures by improving awareness rates and developing new microbial diagnostic tools for common and emerging new tick-borne diseases in the European North Sea region.

Institutions from Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway are also involved in the project.

A new taskforce dedicated to tackling serious and organised waste crime, has been launched.

The Joint Unit for Waste Crime (JUWC) will for the first time bring together law enforcement agencies including Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), environmental regulators, HMRC and the National Crime Agency in the war against waste crime.

Serious and organised waste crime is estimated to cost the UK economy at least £600 million a year and a 2018 Home Office review found that perpetrators are often involved in other serious criminal activity, including large scale fraud and in some cases modern slavery.

To tackle the growing trend in criminal waste networks, the new unit will conduct site inspections, make arrests and prosecutions and, upon conviction, push for heavy fines and custodial sentences.

By working together in this way, Joint Unit partners can more easily share their intelligence and resources to take swifter action when investigating criminal waste operations and other connected illegal activities, such as money laundering and human trafficking.

Toby Willison, Chair of the JUWC Board, said:

“The war against waste crime just took a giant step forward. The launch of this new unit means we now have a full complement of partners across law enforcement as well as our counterparts in Scotland and Wales to bring down waste criminals for good.

We will target serious and organised criminals across the country as they try to illegally exploit the waste industry and the environment. These criminal gangs need to know that we have them in our sights.

The Joint Unit for Waste Crime is one of a number of initiatives in the government’s landmark Resources and Waste Strategy, which is focused on tackling waste crime and driving up levels of performance in the industry.”

Jennifer Shearer, Head of Enforcement at SEPA, said:

“SEPA’s Regulatory Strategy makes it clear that ‘compliance is non-negotiable’, and being a partner on the Joint Unit for Waste Crime is a clear step forward in ensuring that responsible agencies work together to disrupt and prevent waste criminals from operating.

Organised waste crime operates across geographical boundaries and has a serious and detrimental impact on our environment, communities and compliant businesses. Working together in this way allows us to tackle this criminality swiftly and effectively.”

This year, Glasgow will hold the UN Climate change summit drawing global attention to Scotland. But what are Scottish cities doing to tackle climate change and become green? 

Glasgow 

Glasgow was the first Scottish city to introduce a low-emission zone.

More improvements have been made in the past year, such as two new camera-controlled bus gates either side of Central Station.

One of the council's latest plans is to limit vehicles around George Square as part of multi-million project that could ultimately ban parking in the area entirely.

A public consultation held over October and November last year showed huge public support for less traffic, more pedestrian areas and more green spaces for relaxing

Next week the council will consider a proposal to fully pedestrianise the east and west sides of the square – at the City Chambers and Merchants House, respectively.

The north and south sides would allow public transport and cyclists. If approved this phase could be in place before the UEFA European Football Championships in June.

Further permanent works could also be carried out after the summer of 2023 to improve connectivity just beyond the square, costing an additional £3m.

Aberdeen

There are also a number of ongoing projects in Aberdeen aimed at both cutting traffic and breathing new life into one of the city's most historic spaces.

Aberdeen City Council are considering plans to ban vehicles from certain streets overnight in order to make them safer and "more welcoming".

The ban would apply between 22:00-05:00 on certain areas off Union Street, which runs through the heart of the city.

Certain exemptions would include emergency vehicles and cyclists.

Meanwhile, Union Terrace Gardens – a historic park and thoroughfare – is in the middle of a £25.7 million refurbishment, including new walkways, an amphitheatre, a play area, cafe, and improved toilets.

It is expected to be completed in the summer of next year.

Edinburgh

Edinburgh has rolled out a number of green projects in the past year with several more on the horizon.

It became the first city in the UK to join the Open Streets movement by closing certain areas of the Old Town between midday and 17:00 on the first Sunday of each month.

By the end of 2020 it is hoped that the capital will introduce Scotland's second low emission zone, which means older cars will have to pay to enter the city centre.

Another broader city-wide zone would apply to buses, coaches and commercial vehicles.

And earlier this month the council published plans for radical changes over the next 10 years to make the city carbon neutral.

If the proposals go ahead, large portions of Edinburgh would become pedestrianised, George Street would be shut to vehicles by 2025 and the tram network extended by the end of the decade.

Along with Glasgow, Edinburgh is the only other Scottish city to signal that it would introduce the workplace parking levy.

Dundee

Dundee will be one of the first cities in Scotland to see the introduction of electric bin lorries on its streets, making their debut in April. 

The repowered refuse vehicles are part of the council’s drive to reduce the environmental impact of its fleet.

In addition to the two lorries, the council also plan to introduce two fully electric minibuses and a large mechanical sweeper.

Dundee has also launched the city’s climate action plan in December, a project which aims to target net-zero greenhouse gas emissions for Dundee by 2045 or sooner.

Response has been provided to the Scottish Government consultation on Steps to Improve the Operational Effectiveness of the Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act 2010.  Details of the consultation can be found here.

The response from REHIS indicated support for the proposals, to provide for an offence of obstruction and provisions to allow for service of fixed penalty notices, to establish a national database of dog control notices, and to clarify that dog control notices served in one local authority area can be enforced in other local authority areas.  The full REHIS response will be published along with all other responses on the Scottish Government website.  

Response has been provided to a consultation on Good practice guidance on public health action in response to detecting elevated levels of lead in drinking water. Consultation was received directly from the Scottish Health Protection Network – Environmental Public Health Group. This guidance provides best practice advice for NHS board Health Protection Teams responding to a report of an elevated level of lead in drinking water. The guidance also outlines roles and responsibilities of relevant partner agencies who may be involved in investigating and acting on elevated levels of lead in drinking water. The response from REHIS indicated that it may be beneficial to add epidemiological evidence to support the guidance, and that the information to give to members of the public and the outcome from blood tests could be written in a clearer manner within the document. A risk assessment approach to a given situation was promoted within the guidance, which was considered appropriate but that this assessment should consider other sources of lead to which the individual may be exposed. Comments are to be considered by the guidance review group and the document updated.

Five Scottish local authorities have joined together to deliver improved recycling and residual waste treatment.

East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire have signed a £700m deal with waste management company Viridor.

The contract, which is central to the 25-year Clyde Valley Residual Waste Project, will see Viridor process up to 190,000 tonnes of residual waste annually which would otherwise be sent to landfill.

The waste will be treated at a Materials Recovery Facility in Bargeddie, removing plastics and metals, to produce a refuse derived fuel. This is transported to Dunbar where it is burned at high temperatures, under carefully controlled conditions, to produce 258GWh of low carbon electricity – enough power for the equivalent of 70,656 homes.

This will help the partner councils comply with the Scottish Government Zero Waste Plan and Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012.

Robert Steenson, executive director of enterprise and communities at North Lanarkshire Council, said the project was the first of its kind in Scotland and would contribute to managing household waste more effectively.

He added: “It means that the waste, which cannot be otherwise be recycled, will now be diverted from landfill and transformed into low carbon electricity, with Dunbar Energy Recovery Facility generating enough power for the equivalent of 70,656 homes.”

Mr Steenson said the project would reduce the “overall carbon impact” of the disposal of the waste and provide community benefits such as apprenticeships, work placements and training workshops for businesses.

A number of community benefits will be delivered over the term of the contract.
Employment opportunities will be created across the partner council areas and Dunbar, particularly aimed at long-term unemployed and young people, over the 25-year contract.

Viridor will work with small and medium sized businesses to establish a Clyde Valley supply chain and ensure local companies in the partner area can bid for supply contracts.

A Clyde Valley GO4SET (science, engineering and technology) educational partnership will be set up with the Engineering Development Trust to encourage more secondary school pupils into STEM subjects.

The ASK Italian restaurant chain has been fined for misleading customers about the contents of a dish. 

The brand, owned by Azzurri Restaurants, was fined £40,000 by Swansea Magistrates after pleading guilty to selling a food with a misleading label between December 2016 and March 2019, contrary to the Food Safety Act 1990.

Swansea Council brought the case to court after a dish described as Aragosta e Gamberoni (lobster and king prawns) contained only a small amount of lobster.

The discovery was made during a routine inspection when a request to see the dish raised concerns that the meal did not resemble lobster. When the inspector asked to see the original packaging of the raw ingredients, the lobster turned out to be something called Lobster Sensations, which described itself as: "A delicious blend of real lobster and lobster flavoured seafood made with surimi, a fully cooked fish protein".

The actual lobster content of the frozen sensation is 35%, with a similar amount of white fish, and other ingredients including potato starch and soy protein.

Lee Reynolds, prosecuting on behalf of the local authority, said the issue came to light after an inspector visited Ask on Swansea 's Wind Street in March 2019.

He said: "This was being sold as lobster throughout the national chain of restaurants. We say consumers did not get what the consumer was entitled to expect when ordering the dish. They were not receiving, we say, proper lobster."

He conceded while the description had been "misleading", there was little or no risk to safety.

Reynolds added the cost of buying frozen lobster to make the dish would have been £12.60 per 100 grams, while the cost of the lobster mix was £1.40 per 100 grams. The overall cost of ingredients for the lobster and prawn dish was £2.84, of which the mixed seafood product made up 70p.

The court heard that once the council raised the issue with the company, the dish in question was removed from menus around the country.

Oliver Campbell, representing Azzurri Restaurants, said the firm apologised for, and regretted, the "error" it had made.

He said it had been a "mistake in the description given to the dish” and "strongly denied" there had been a financial motivation behind the offending.

District judge Neale Thomas believed the way the dish had been described on the menu by the firm was a "deliberate action", and that it "falsely represented" the nature of the food.

But he said he was not convinced there was "evidence of profiteering" by the company in its actions. 

Giving Azzurri Restaurants a one-third discount for its guilty plea, he fined the firm £40,000.

The district judge said Swansea Council was to be commended for uncovering the issue.

Asda and Lidl have said it will remove cartoon characters from their own-brand cereals to tackle parents being pestered into buying unhealthy choices and help combat childhood obesity

Lidl was the first to announce the move which said it was in response to nearly three-quarters of parents saying they experience pester power from their children in the supermarket, with over half believing cartoon characters on cereal packaging encourages this.

Lidl said it will rebrand eight of its own-brand Crownfield products in total and introduce new, cartoon-free branding from Spring.

Georgina Hall, the retailer's head of corporate social responsibility said: "We know pester power can cause difficult battles on the shop floor and we're hoping that removing cartoon characters from cereal packaging will alleviate some of the pressure parents are under," she said. 

Asda then followed announcing they would also remove cartoon characters from its cereals.

The move will see the rollout of 12 revised cereals and cereal bar packs including Malted Wheaties, Rice Snaps Cereal Bars and Unicorn Hoops online and in store on 24 February.

Aldi has already removed child-friendly characters from most of its breakfast products with only two variants outstanding however they have announced they will be removing the final cartoon characters from its range of breakfast cereals packaging by the end of March 2020.

Response has been provided to the Scottish Government consultation on Prohibiting Smoking Outside Hospital Buildings.  Details of the consultation can be found here.

The response from REHIS indicated support for the proposal to establish a legally enforceable no smoking 15 metre perimeter around hospital buildings and under any canopies or overhangs.  Resource to provide enforcement was raised as an area to be addressed.  The response indicated the legislation should not refer to Nicotine Vapour Products (NVPs) to limit confusion but that it is recommended NHS policies continue to exclude NVP use from hospital buildings and grounds.  The full REHIS response will be published along with all other responses on the Scottish Government website.