Businesses, local authorities and third sector organisations are being invited to put forward new ideas to help prevent and tackle the impact of litter and fly-tipping across Scotland.

Zero Waste Scotland today launched three funding programmes – Infrastructure and Enforcement Fund, Innovation Fund and Product and Service Development Fund – worth £700,000 but told ELN that “all workable ideas or projects will be considered”.

They aim to improve current systems and pilot new ideas, test creative initiatives around behaviour change and encourage product or service changes.

Ideas could include incentives to encourage more community clean-ups, redesign of products and service to reduce Scotland’s most commonly-littered items such as increasing the use of electronic receipts or reusable coffee cups or redesigning waste/recycling services.

Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said: “Litter impacts public health and the environment and costs Scotland at least £53 million each year to tackle – public money that could be better spent on other things.”

The funds are part of the delivery for the Scottish Government’s ambitious national litter strategy, Towards a Litter-Free Scotland, which was launched last month.