The ban on the landfilling of Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW) is set to come into effect on 31 December 2025 and looks unlikely to be delayed.
OPINION: A Scottish waste capacity shortfall was foreseeable a decade ago when bans and closures were fixed without putting in place the necessary long term planning to deal with, in effect, material that is enough fill two new Energy from Waste (EfW) plants that simply don’t exist.
This capacity does not exist in Scotland, England, or even in the near export market for treated waste.
Scotland’s waste crisis is being pushed into England where landfill capacity is being phased out, and the necessary extra capacity for EfW plants is several years away.
The extra cost from transporting Scotland’s excess waste across the border will be borne by Scottish businesses and local authorities, adding further pressure to an already difficult economic situation.
Scotland’s waste crisis was avoidable and will be a wake-up call for Defra which is already putting in place the right regulatory changes in England, to reduce the production of residual waste – starting this year in business premises with simpler recycling and extending to domestic properties from next year.
England must now push through regulations which underpin the move to greater circularity of materials, and at the same time ensure the right incentives are in place to stimulate the investable conditions needed to build further waste and recycling infrastructure.
Defra must learn from the impending Scottish waste crisis and ensure that we have enough infrastructure in place to first manage the materials society creates, and seize the opportunity for investment, economic growth and greater sustainability.
Actually we don’t have a waste crisis – in the sense you mean here (at least no greater or less a crisis than the rest of the UK!!). We have a problem of policy inflexibility and delayed construction. The solutions is very simple. Delay the ban, because infrastructure I delayed and most people understand why that is the case) for 2 years, which is the build out time required for the started but not yet completed facilities and continue to allow landfill in Scotland for the target material in this period. Companies will only landfill where they can’t get access to incineration due to the cost differential. Avoid landfill in England (bad optics), keep the landfill revenues in Scotland and don’t add unnecessary cost or carbon onto Scotland’s businesses or local authorities. All this fuss is just the press doing what the press do and making mischief.