Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway Area Waste Plan

4.4 Specific Local Waste Streams

The framework described above will be applied nationally and locally to develop plans and best practice for dealing with non-MSW. There are wastes which are more important locally. These include the following:

In addition there are wastes on which we have better data and information. This data and information has come from SEPA initiated priority waste stream projects.

Waste streams of national significance, which may require national solutions, will be subject to a priority waste stream project. This initially involves data and information collection which is then reported. Of the 13 identified Priority Waste Streams Projects for Scotland, construction and demolition wastes, tyres, newsprint and end-of-life vehicles have reported. The conclusions of these initial reports are summarised below. Reference should be made to the full reports for the full set of conclusions.

This waste stream is the largest single source of waste due to its high density. The SWMBA report estimated C&D arisings in Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway to be around 400,000 tonnes. Most of this is disposed of within the area, with a small amount exported for recycling. The priority waste stream project for construction and demolition waste has estimated that in the year 2000, C&D arisings in the area rose to 595,000 tonnes.

The Construction and Demolition Priority Waste Stream project study identified that nationally around 37% of the landfilled C&D Waste could be recycled. Realising this potential locally would create a further 220,000 tonnes of secondary aggregate that could replace virgin aggregate used for construction. Information on the current infrastructure for this waste stream can be found within the SEPA Priority Waste Stream Report or can be located on the CIRIA Internet Register of Recycling Sites (http://www.ciria.org.uk).

Through improved resource management of the construction industry, preventing or reducing the production of waste will have the maximum positive environmental impact, through reduced resource use, lower emissions and energy consumption. A full set of recommendations is detailed in the 'Construction and Demolition Priority Waste Stream Project Report – Data, Best Practice and Recommendations'. Development plans will need to identify a 10-year forward supply of landfill for inert and non-hazardous wastes. Construction and demolition wastes largely fall into these categories. It is expected that fiscal measures such as landfill tax and aggregates tax will provide further incentive to increase the reuse and recycling of this waste stream and reduce the quantities being landfilled.

The National Data Study on Tyres collected data from the companies making up the tyre industry in Scotland (see Appendix 4 of the study). The data collected were incomplete and therefore the arisings were also calculated using a predictive model. Arisings in 1999 for ADG has been estimated at 3,220 tonnes. These breakdown into three categories – 2,250 tonnes Discarded by Replacement, 650 tonnes from end-of-life vehicles and 26 tonnes reported as illegally dumped. This figure if further broken down into arisings by car, small truck and large truck in the study.

Nationally, around 3% of tyres are reused, 13% recycled (via retreading and silage clamps/landfill engineering), and 49% landfilled. It should be noted, however, that since 1999 the situation is less bleak in that very few tyres arising in Scotland are now being landfilled direct and significant markets are now available with Lafarge Cement UK (formerly Blue Circle Cement Kiln in Dunbar) that use tyres as a coal substitute, and use of old tyres within landfill sites for engineering purposes, e.g. leachate drainage layer.

Implementation of the Landfill Directive will see a ban on whole tyres to landfill by July 2003 and shredded tyres by 2006.

Newsprint is a significant component of municipal and commercial waste streams, this project examined newsprint in the context of its suitability for recycling, its quantity and potential to stimulate large-scale industrial investment in Scotland, through the manufacture of newsprint from recovered materials.

The total newsprint waste arisings in Scotland in 1999 is estimated to have been approximately 240,000 tonnes – 6% printers waste, 11% over issue to sales outlets and 83% post consumer (based on sales data). The extent of post consumer newsprint waste arisings in ADG in 1999 was estimated at slightly over 15,000 tonnes.

Nationally, recovery of newsprint is estimated at 75% printers waste, 100% of over issues and 14% postconsumer newsprint. It is estimated that the requirements of the Landfill Directive targets to divert BMW from landfill will require the recovery of between 150,000 and 230,000 tonnes per year of newsprint waste by 2016, requiring a five to eight fold increase in recovery above current levels. It is unlikely that this will result in new mill capacity being developed in Scotland but a number of other potential outlets have been identified:

These outlets can be developed as new reprocessing opportunities occur but would require a stable and guaranteed supply of materials. This will require co-ordination and co-operation between local authorities and private sector organisations.

There are two different categories of this waste stream:

The national study on ELVs estimates 1999 arisings in (cars and light good vehicles) to be 7251 vehicles, equating to 7106 tonnes (at 0.98 tonnes average weight of an ELV).

Current infrastructure indicates that there are 20 licensed dismantlers/scrap yards/metal recyclers in the waste strategy area. It is likely the higher standards required by the End-of-Life Vehicles Directive will result in a reduction in the numbers of dismantlers/scrap yards/metal recyclers over future years.

The report identifies Best Practice under the requirements of the End-of-Life Vehicle Directive that includes: