Scotland imports 43 per cent of the materials its economy uses, and two-thirds of the critical raw materials it needs, according to Material Flow Accounts published by Zero Waste Scotland, built on 291 life-cycle assessments spanning 98 economic sectors.

The accounts measure Scotland's total material use at 200 million tonnes in 2020, equivalent to 37 tonnes for every resident. Only 11 of those tonnes are embedded in the products people use day to day, from food and clothing to housing and vehicles. The remaining 26 tonnes is mostly oil and gas extracted from Scottish waters, most of it exported rather than consumed domestically.

This dependence on imported materials leaves construction, food, energy and manufacturing exposed to disruption in global supply chains, says Zero Waste Scotland. The agency, now Scotland's circular economy public body, argues the figures reinforce the case for keeping resources in use for longer to cut reliance on overseas supply.

For the first time the accounts break material use, carbon emissions and wider environmental impacts down sector by sector. Fossil fuels and fossil fuel products, processed foods, machinery and equipment, and metal products and castings account for the largest share of material extraction and the greatest environmental damage from production.

Those sectors map onto the five priorities in the Scottish Government's Circular Economy Strategy, which covers the built environment, energy infrastructure, textiles, transport and the food system. Zero Waste Scotland has published roadmaps for the built environment and for energy infrastructure, each overseen by a cross-sector mission board, with roadmaps for the bioeconomy and textiles due in 2027.

"The findings of our latest Material Flow Accounts underline the true scale of Scotland's reliance on materials, and how the things we see in our daily lives are only part of the story," said Ciaran McGuigan, chief executive of Zero Waste Scotland. "By embracing circular economy practices across the board, Scotland can reduce its demand for raw materials, cut emissions and build a more resilient economy."

A new baseline

The accounts use a more granular method than Zero Waste Scotland's previous Material Flow Accounts, published in 2021 and 2023, which relied on broader, more standardised modelling. The agency says the change gives it the strongest evidence base it has had for designing circular economy measures, reducing emissions and improving resource efficiency, and lets it identify where those measures would have the greatest effect.

The data covers 2020, the most recent year that could be modelled in full. Development of the method began in 2024, and the underlying economic data, including input-output tables, typically becomes available around four years after the reference year.

Because the methodology has changed, the new accounts cannot be compared directly with earlier editions based on 2017 and 2018 data. Zero Waste Scotland describes material footprint figures as estimates rather than exact measurements, and treats the 2020 accounts as the baseline for tracking change in future updates.