Scottish waste prevention plan throws out waste charging

The scheme which sees residents pay for the amount of rubbish they throw away has been ruled out as the national waste minimisation strategy, now entitled Household Waste Prevention Action Plan, was published last week.

” We all need to learn to live within our environmental means. The Action Plan sets out how we can tackle that. “
– Ross Finnie
But after considering 170 responses to last year's consultation on the plan (see letsrecycle.com story), the Executive said it had “no plans to introduce direct charges for householders for the general uplifting of waste”.

However, the Executive does want to halt the growth of household waste generation by 2010 and the report sets down a series of 20 action points to meet this target.

It wants Scotland's annual 500,000 tonnes of food waste to fall by 15,000 tonnes by 2010 and will work with agencies including the Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) on a list of solutions to include the development of “smarter packaging which may enable food to be kept for longer”.

And it is hoped Scotland's 500,000 tonnes of packaging waste will fall by 34,000 tones by 2010 by introducing measures such as “lighter weight packaging or reusable packaging.”

Bags
The report includes an action plan for carrier bags after Mike Pringle MSP, agreed last October, to withdraw a private members bill on the subject if the Executive considered the issue of bags within its waste minimisation strategy.

The Executive has now pledged to work with the British Retail Consortium, retailers and the UK Government, to set down a code of practice on plastic and paper carrier bags by 2008.

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Household Waste Prevention Action Plan

The report also explains that consumers will be encouraged to reuse unwanted products by offloading them to charity shops and “online waste exchanges” such as eBay.

They will also be encouraged to opt out of the Royal Mail's junk mail delivery scheme so this paper wastage can be reduced by 10% by 2010.

The Executive's environment minister, Ross Finnie, said of the report: “Scotland squanders too many valuable resources. Every household produces over a tonne of waste per year and that's still growing every year by around 1.5 to 2%. We all need to learn to live within our environmental means. The Action Plan sets out how we can tackle that.”