Scotland urged to look into pay-as-you-throw

In a report published today by government watchdog Audit Scotland on sustainable waste management, the Audit Commission for Scotland and the Auditor General said that despite recycling rates in Scotland increasing “significantly” in recent years, the country was in danger of missing its EU targets for 2013.

In particular, they blamed waste growth in Scotland and “slow progress” over building new waste facilities to deal with residual waste.

In order to address the problem,  the report urged the Scottish government to make clear the long-term benefits of residual waste treatment technologies such as energy from waste in order to make them more acceptable and draw up an “urgent” action plan to develop them.

The Audit Commission for Scotland and Auditor General also called on the government to “undertake research to assess the contribution that direct charging for waste management could make to increasing recycling and waste reduction” – which they said was used by many European countries with the most successful recycling rates.

Other recommendations in the report, to be considered by the Scottish Parliament's audit committee next Wednesday (26 September 2007), included identifying the most cost-effective recycling collection schemes and setting up consortia to market recyclables.

Caroline Gardner, deputy auditor general for Scotland, said: “A quarter of our household waste is currently recycled, with four out of five people taking part. Yet the amount of waste we produce continues to grow. It is unlikely Scotland will be able to meet the EU landfill target for 2012 as there has been slow progress in developing facilities to treat waste we don't recycle. Decisions on how landfill volumes will be reduced need to be taken by the Scottish Government as a matter of urgency.”

Expenditure

At present, the Scottish Strategic Waste Fund distributes £89 million a year to councils in Scotland to support recycling.

The Audit Scotland report estimated that this would have to rise to an estimated £271 million in 2020 to achieve a 55% recycling rate.

Over this period, the estimated waste management expenditure by councils would need to grow from £351 million in 2005/06 to and estimated £580 million a year in 2019/2020, if current targets are to be met.

Isabelle Low, deputy chair of the Accounts Commission for Scotland, said: “Councils have done well to achieve a rapid rise in recycling rates. But we still need to recycle more and success in the next stage will be harder. The Scottish Government recycling targets will be difficult and costly to meet due to the need to recycle more types of waste, extend access to hard to reach areas such as tenements and rural communities, and because the value of additional material collected will fall.”

“The best way forward is for councils to standardise recycling schemes and use Best Value reviews to ensure greater consistency and value for money,” she added.

COSLA

Welcoming the Audit Scotland report, council leaders said that there was “no doubt that limited progress has been made in dealing with residual waste” and that they were “up for the challenge” of driving up recycling.

However, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) explained that progress would depend on the new Scottish Government.

It is likely that this will be broached when council representatives  meet with ministers next month to discuss the future of recycling in Scotland (see letsrecycle.com story).

Cllr Rob Murray, COSLA vice president said: “COSLA is hopeful that the partnership working promised by the Scottish Government will offer new opportunities to progress this agenda in a constructive manner. I hope that the new government's objective of a greener Scotland will mean the simplification of funding streams and a commitment to real action across the country, both in terms of recycling and treating residual waste.”