A report released by the Accounts Commission this week criticised Scottish councils for only recycling around 7.4% of the nation's waste in 2001-02, just a fraction higher than the 6% rate of the previous year.
But the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) responded to the report, saying that it was the whole of Scotland that was to blame, not just local authorities, and that the Scottish Executive had failed to impose statutory recycling targets.
COSLA's waste management spokesman, Russell Imrie, said: “The Accounts Commission are quite right to highlight the poor performance in recycling in Scotland, but it is disappointing that they appear to point the finger solely at the councils who currently have no statutory duty with respect to recycling.”
Though the Scottish Executive has set no statutory targets for local authorities, it does have a target of recycling or composting 25% of municipal waste by 2006. The Scottish Executive has already announced a substantial packaging of funding for eight local authorities from its Strategic Waste Fund (see letsrecycle.com story). But Mr Imrie said that insufficient local authority collections were not the only barrier in the recycling chain, that reprocessing, product development and recycled markets also needed strengthening.
“Recycling comes at a cost, and requires the development of markets for recyclable materials and public education campaigns,” Mr Imrie said. “Until recently, there has been no additional funding for councils to provide the needed infrastructure and markets have either been unstable or non-existent.”
The COSLA spokesman said that once the Strategic Waste Fund reaches local authorities in Scotland, “significant progress will be evident”, with most councils introducing kerbside recycling collections as well as developing treatment facilities.
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