Here's how to cut Scotland’s material consumption levels

This means everyone buys more and more stuff, which boosts the profits of big businesses, but it’s expensive for consumers and a disaster for the planet. The more resources we extract from nature, the more damage we cause to our environment and to the lives of people around the world.

The drive to use ever more materials is linked to our growth obsessed economy. The easiest way for businesses to increase their profits is to sell more, which means the demand for more materials always rises.

But this endless demand for more materials is strangely out of line with the Scottish Government’s story about carbon emissions. They claim Scotland’s carbon emissions are shrinking but how can this be if our economy keeps growing, fed by ever increasing material consumption?

READ MORE: Scotland's 2030 climate goals no longer credible, says watchdog

The answer is that Ministers are choosing to ignore an increasingly large part of our carbon footprint. Only carbon which is emitted in Scotland counts towards the Scottish Government’s official climate targets. Emissions from imported products are excluded.

This 'climate blind spot' now accounts for over half of Scotland’s carbon footprint. Scotland's desire for more material is still contributing to the global problem - even if that pollution is recorded in another country's climate stats.

This offshoring trend is seen across many of the key materials we use in our economy, not just the ones we buy as consumers. Steel, which is essential for infrastructure projects, from bridges to buildings and wind turbines, is a clear example of this. When the Ravenscraig steel mill closed in 1992, it wiped 3.5 million tonnes of carbon off Scotland’s carbon balance sheets. But Scotland’s demand for steel didn’t stop, in fact it has grown. Today, we import all the steel we need, with much less control over the production process.

There good news is that there is a way to fix this blind spot. The Scottish Government can create a new target, in line with our existing climate commitments, that will reduce the impact of our consumption.

This week, the Scottish Parliament will have an opportunity to support fairer and more sustainable material use when it votes on a new Circular Economy Law. Our current approach to materials is described as the linear economy where we take resources from nature, use them briefly and then dispose of them, usually in landfill or incinerator.

The target would drive the Scottish Government to introduce policies to minimise material use and ensure the products we buy will last longer. By encouraging more reuse and repair, we can learn new skills and help people will save money on the things they buy.

Businesses which put unsustainable and non-recyclable products on our shelves should be made to take responsibly for cleaning them up when they are littered in our streets and dumped in oceans. Currently, greedy businesses can keep passing the costs of cleaning up their mess onto the public purse.

A circular economy creates new job opportunities too. Building one steel recycling plant in Scotland could create 650 jobs and add £400m to the Scottish economy. But this won’t happen without support from Government to give people the security and skills they need to make these changes. The new Circular Economy Law must recognise this.

Creating a world with less stuff can bring benefits for everyone. It means the things we buy are better made and are easier to fix, as well as cutting carbon emissions and creating jobs. But we must act now, before the whole world turns into one big rubbish dump.

Ignoring how much our imports damage the planet doesn’t stop it happening. Scotland's new Circular Economy Law is the first step towards a fairer and more sustainable future but, this will only happen if it is honest about all the impacts of our consumption, including imports.