Scotland's environment blog

Many people don't give much thought to what happens to their waste once their bins have been collected. So they don't realise that the separately collected recyclable materials are put through a series of sorting processes, using a mix of machinery and hand separation (that's real people working at nearby facilities to sorting through your waste). We asked Naomi Ross, from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)'s Waste Unit, to explain more about what's involved, the cycle of our waste and how we can help improve the quality of recycled materials.

Providing a sound evidence base to inform policy development and decisions, and making data and information more accessible to you - our users - is at the core of what Scotland's environment web is all about. So I'm sure you'll understand why we're pleased to be able to tell you about two new additions to our website - the Habitat Map of Scotland, a great new composite map tool, pulling together habitat and land use data to help support policy and management decisions, and the Ecosystem health indicators section, providing valuable information on the status of our ecosystems.

This is the first in series of blogs about our all-important partners. Scotland’s environment web is the product of an innovative partnership between some of Scotland’s leading environmental organisations. But who are they? Why are they part of the Scotland’s environment collaboration? And what do they get out of it?

This first blog features the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), the organisation responsible for managing, maintaining and further developing Scotland’s environment web.

A spotlight on Scotland’s Biodiversity is the title of the two-day conference at the Royal Society of Edinburgh running yesterday and today – and that’s what we’ll be doing in our blog over the coming month; shining a spotlight on biodiversity in Scotland.

Today marks the launch of A strategy for improving waste data in Scotland, a partnership document written by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Zero Waste Scotland and the Scottish Government, in consultation with a range of stakeholders.

The Scotland’s environment web team has been working hard over the past year to find out what you – our users ­– would like from Scotland’s leading environmental information and data portal. Following lots of discussions, testing, redesign and further testing, we’re pleased to bring you our new website.