3.9 Community Involvement

The current and future role of the community sector's involvement in methods and solutions for moving MSW up the waste hierarchy will be important to the delivery of the BPEO. There is already a long history of communitybased and run projects in Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway. Locally operated and managed community projects bring social benefits through creation of employment and social inclusion.

In recognition of the growing importance of the community recycling sector, RAGS has been awarded a grant to establish a community recycling network for Scotland.

The aim is to establish a development agency style approach that will be built into the national framework to support community recycling but will be delivered at local level. The aim of this approach will be to increase the width of expertise within the sector, increase the number of practitioners and projects, identify opportunities in relation to local AWPs, overcome local/national barriers and promote long term sustainability.

It is important, however, that the network being proposed is accessible and relevant at all levels. As well as a national perspective to news and information, there should also be a local support structure to aid development of initiatives in line with local waste strategies.

In keeping with Actions 9, 10, 12 and 17 the WSAG is likely to investigate the potential for future working arrangements with the Community Recycling Network in ADG. This would be aimed towards developing appropriate local delivery of the AWP, and the possibility of developing appropriate local support network for this sector.