Developing recycling infrastructure for organic waste and plastics has emerged as a key element of delivery body Zero Waste Scotlands programme plan for 2011/15.
The organisation has outlined its main areas for work over the next four years. Zero Waste Scotland hopes by offering funding and support for developing treatment capacity it will encourage councils and private business to collect more material.
In the programme plan, Zero Waste Scotland states there is limited reprocessing capacity in the country, particularly around plastics, textiles and food waste. Therefore, it aims to help overcome the perceived risk in these areas over the course of its programme plan.
The organisation intends to prioritise recycling infrastructure and end markets for materials based on the carbon impact and economic opportunity.
This will involve the use of the Scottish Governments newly-developed carbon metric for recycling (see letsrecycle.com story).
Iain Gulland, director of Zero Waste Scotland, said: Zero Waste Scotland has been created to provide a one stop shop for businesses, individuals and communities looking to reduce waste, recycle more and use resources sustainably.
Our programme plans for 2011 onwards will aim to bring people together around a shared vision for making Scotland a zero waste society. We have targeted practical steps across priority sectors and materials which can make a real difference.
Food
At the heart of the food waste work, Zero Waste Scotland is working with the Scottish Futures Trust to distribute 4 million in support funding, known as the Food Waste Fund, to enable local authorities to roll-out household collections.
Food waste has emerged as a top-level issue for the Scottish delivery bodies this month, with the Scottish Futures Trust last week stating that it would among the major areas of the waste sector that it will look to support in 2011/12 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Within its work on food waste, Zero Waste Scotland intends to identify strategic locations for anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities, offering procurement support for councils to secure AD and in-vessel composting capacity and specialist advice for development of small-scale AD.
The work on AD and in-vessel composting is intended to complement grant support previously offered by Zero Waste Scotland under the WRAP Organics Programme.
One of the key outcomes the organisation hopes for is for 150,000 tonnes-a-year of additional food waste to be processed through AD by the end of the programme period, March 2015.
Further to this, Zero Waste Scotland intends to investigate and help develop end markets for composts, digestates and biogas. Over the course of the programme it aims to recycle an additional 40,000 tonnes-a-year of digestate and compost.
Plastic
Assessing wider infrastructure needs, the programme plan outlines an initial objective to support development of plastics reprocessing infrastructure in Scotland over the course of 2011/12.
The organisation has already used a Plastics Capital Grant Programme and displayed an eagerness to develop mixed plastic sorting capacity in the country. In the programme plan, Zero Waste Scotland outlines the potential for further funding to be issued for mixed plastic sorting capacity.
Areas of particular focus will be: food-grade plastics; textiles and carpets; and plastic films. The programme plan includes a willingness to expand textile recycling by 2015.
The overall budget to deliver programmes for 2011/12 is 25 million, which was originally based on a 10% reduction on the 2010/11 budget of 23.4 million but has been bolstered by 4 million to go towards supporting councils to roll out food waste collections.
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