Recycling rates increased by five percentage points from 2003/04, according to survey results expected to be published tomorrow by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).
” In two years we have seen recycling rates jump by around 10 percentage points and progress is set to continue.“
– Calum MacDonald, SEPA
Full survey results for individual councils are expected to be made available tomorrow, but national figure based on local authority quarterly returns show a considerable increase in performance from the 5.37% rate in 2001/02.
Welcoming the results, Scotland's environment minister Ross Finnie said: “I am pleased to see this increase in recycling and composting. In 2003/04, the SEPA figures suggested that, across Scotland, we were recycling and composting around 12% of our waste. These latest figures for 2004/05, suggest we are recycling around 17% of our waste. Clearly, we have more to do: we are well on our way to reaching our target of 25%.”
The recycling rates refer to household waste, and exclude industrial or trade waste collected by local authorities. Scotland has set targets to reach a 25% recycling rate by 2005/06.
Plan
Although Scotland's recycling performance put them effectively a year behind England in achieving an average 17% rate, SEPA said the results showed that Scotland's National Waste Plan was bringing about significant change.
The Plan was published in 2003 and has seen the Scottish Executive providing all 32 Scottish councils with long-term funding through the Strategic Waste Fund to improve composting and recycling facilities and divert waste away from landfill.
| Related links: |
During the current Spending Review period (2005/06 – 2007/08) around 260 million is available in the Strategic Waste Fund.
Calum MacDonald, SEPA’s director of environmental and organisational strategy, said: “Since the launch of the National Waste Plan the pace of change in waste management in Scotland has been rapid. In two years we have seen recycling rates jump by around 10 percentage points and progress is set to continue.”
Register for free to comment