South Ayrshire Council

South Ayrshire Council currently uses three private landfill sites and a number of recycling outlets to dispose of municipal waste.

1 - Waste Disposal
The bulk of the Council's wastes are disposed of at Barr Environmental's Garlaff Landfill Site near Cumnock through a long-term waste disposal agreement. Municipal wastes arising in the South of the District are disposed of at Straid Landfill Site, Lendalfoot and Tarbolton Landfill Site is also used for some limited disposal.

2 - Recycling
Paper, cardboard, glass, cans , metals, wood, oil , textiles and garden wastes are all collected and recycled or composted at various merchants or treatment plants.

The council's recycling and composting rate for municipal waste in 2001/2002 was 8.7%.

3 - Home Composting
The council has recognised that waste minimisation and waste reduction is at the very top of the waste hierarchy and has embarked on an ambitious home-composting project, which has resulted in over 11,000 new homecompost bins being introduced within the district over the last 3 years. This is one of the highest implementation rates of home composting of any local authority in Scotland.

The council is working in partnership with the West of Scotland Agriculture College at Auchincruive to assess the benefits in home composting in diverting BMW from landfill.

Since the home-composting project was implemented, however, the amount of municipal waste landfilled by the council has reduced from 79,112 tonnes in 1999/2000 to 73,319 tonnes in 2001/2002. This diversion rate is significant, especially when achieved at the same time as municipal waste arisings are increasing at the rate of 2–4% per annum. The council will continue to promote home composting as an integral part of its long-term waste-management strategy.

Value Statement
South Ayrshire Council supports entirely the aims and objectives of the National Waste Strategy for Scotland and has decided to achieve these aims initially through implementation of the waste hierarchy, i.e. to reduce, reuse and recycle waste before considering other treatment or different options.

With this in mind the council has recently decided to introduce a three-bin source segregated 'alternate weekly' recycling service for household waste. The council and SEPA are of the view that this system offers the BPEO for maximising recycling and composting of household waste.

Three-Bin Recycling Service
Each householder with a wheeled bin will be provided with two additional wheeled bins – a blue bin for paper, cans, cardboard, plastics, textiles and a brown bin for organic garden waste and kitchen vegetable waste.

The frequency of collection will be as follows:

    Week 1 - General refuse

    Week 2 - Green waste (organic garden waste and kitchen vegetables)

    Week 3 - General refuse

    Week 4 - Dry recyclables (paper, cardboard, cans, plastics and textiles)

The contents of the blue bin will be processed at a materials recycling facility and the wastes passed on for recycling. The contents of the brown bin will be processed at a centralised composting facility and the compost utilised for landscaping, derelict land re-development, agriculture, or for sale.

The council believes that the 'alternate weekly' collection system will encourage householders to participate in recycling and composting and will achieve the maximum segregation of wastes at source, not entailing excessive costs.

The housing stock in South Ayrshire also lends itself to a wheeled bin type of recycling service and it is estimated that over 90% of houses will be able to accommodate the system. For those remaining, 10% of houses, an alternative type of kerbside recycling service will be offered, e.g. survival bags, a box collection or other appropriate method.

Other Council Waste Streams
The source segregated three-bin collection system for householders could also be utilised for collecting commercial and industrial wastes to increase recycling and composting of that waste stream.

Other waste streams such as the council's bulky uplift service commercial waste, street cleaning wastes, beach cleaning wastes and civic amenity site wastes will all be examined with a view to increasing more segregation at source and/or to increase recycling and composting.

Recent improvements to civic amenity sites have introduced more containers for segregation of garden and wood wastes in particular. Additional glass recycling banks will be introduced within the district as it is recognised that initially, the three-bin household recycling service will not collect glass. However, it is intended at some time in the future, to also provide a recycling collection service for glass from householders.

Recycling collection services for glass, cardboard and cans are currently offered to businesses and it would be proposed to extend this range of services in future to include, paper, plastics, green wastes, etc.

The council wishes to achieve a minimum 25% recycling and composting target for wastes collected by 2006. The council will also continue to encourage the reuse and reducing of waste through home-composting in particular as it is recognised that waste minimisation is at the very top of the waste hierarchy.

Partnership Working
The council works with a great many partners within the community and the waste-management sector. This includes householders, the business sector, schools and colleges, not-for-profit organisations, waste disposal contractors and recycling merchants.

In addition, the council is a member of the Ayrshire Waste Management Advisory Group and works in partnership with both North and East Ayrshire Councils in particular to improve recycling and composting rates within the area, as well as to exchange knowledge and ideas on all areas of waste management, including litter abatement and education programmes.

Targets
As indicated in the AWP, the council is committed to achieving a recycling and composting rate of between 49 and 62% for all types of waste collected by the council by the year 2020. The speed at which this increase in recycling and composting progresses will depend on a number of factors, particularly funding and resourcing issues but indicative interim targets are detailed in Table 1 below.

The council will continue to evaluate emerging technologies in the field of waste treatment and any municipal wastes not recycled or composted will be considered for such treatment as an alternative to landfill disposal.

* Composting includes home-composting

This chart indicates the reduction in MSW going to landfill as a result of increased recycling and composting within South Ayrshire. Waste treatment will be considered after 2013 for wastes that cannot be recycled or composted.

Infrastructure and Facilities Required

Centralised Composting
Currently South Ayrshire Council collects and transports approximately 1200 tonnes a year of green organic waste for composting to a licensed site in North Ayrshire. There is also one other licensed composting site in North Ayrshire, which could deal with any increased tonnages of green waste generated by South Ayrshire Council.

However, bearing in mind the 'proximity principle', discussions are ongoing with a number of partner organisations to consider the provision of a composting outlet within South Ayrshire. The council may also wish to consider carrying out the centralised composting provision itself, but as yet, no decision has been made on this item.

Dry Recyclables
A clean MRF will be required to process the contents of the blue wheeled bin by segregating the paper, cardboard, cans, etc., into their different waste streams and passing these materials onto the recycling markets.

Currently, East Ayrshire Council operates one clean MRF and there are other MRFs in Glasgow and Linwood. Again, the council has not taken any decision on the location or otherwise of a MRF and may also wish to consider carrying out this function themselves.

Both the composting outlet and the MRF provision will be the subject of further reports to the Council's Waste Management and Litter Joint Working Group as part of the implementation plan for the three-bin recycling service.

Landfill
The council currently utilises three privately owned landfill sites for the disposal of wastes and it is not anticipated that any new landfill provision is required within South Ayrshire for the foreseeable future.

Infrastructure Requirements
As indicated, no decisions have been taken by the council with regard to the location or the provider of these treatment facilities, but in general terms, the following infrastructure would be required to sustain the three-bin source segregated recycling service:

• Provision of two centralised composting facilities.

• Provision of two materials recycling facilities/waste transfer facilities.

• Provision of two civic amenity/recycling centres.

• Provision of two new technology/treatments processes.

Whether these two infrastructure requirements are provided within South Ayrshire's boundaries or existing facilities outwith South Ayrshire are used has still to be decided. That decision can only be made after evaluating all the factors involved such as costs, transport, environmental issues, best value, etc., and this will form part of our Implementation Plan.

East Ayrshire Council Updated Position Statement

East Ayrshire Council has used a private contractor for the transfer loading, transport and disposal contract for municipal waste since 1996. In 1996 an initial 5-year contract was awarded to a contractor with a potential 2-year extension period. The council utilised the 2-year extension in 2001 and the existing extended contract is due to terminate in May 2003. The impending finalisation of the AWP and the council's intention to comply with the recent announcement of 25% recycling by 2006 has led to a decision to offer a short-term, 12-month contract to commence in May 2003.

The current contract provides for the council's refuse collection vehicles discharging at two transfer stations provided and operated by the contractor. The contractor then bulk transfers the waste to a disposal site at Garlaff, by Skares.

During 2003, the Council will prepare a specification for a new waste disposal contract which is scheduled to commence in May 2004. The contract will have a life of 20 years. The contract specification will be prepared in the light of a number of considerations:

• the requirement for the Council to comply with the EU Directive on Landfill;

• the contract to meet the aspirations of the Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway Waste Strategy Area Plan;

• the contract to meet the specification set out in guidance from the Scottish Executive for councils wishing monies from the Strategic Waste Fund;

• the council's commitment to the expansion of two successful pilot schemes for kerbside recycling and the operation of a materials recycling facility;

• the council's intentions to offer a separate service for the collection of 'green' garden waste for all appropriate households as and when suitable funding becomes available;

• the ability of bidders to take cognisance of innovative and novel methods of waste minimisation, reuse, recycling, composting, etc.;

• the requirement of the successful bidder to provide two upgraded waste recycling/civic amenity sites for improved public co-operation and participation.

During the financial year 1999/2000 the council recycled 2.1% of its MSW. During the period 2000/2001 the figure was increased to 2.3%.

The expansion of the existing kerbside recycling service to include a further 7,000 domestic properties in October 2002 is expected to boost the recycling figure to 5% by the end of 2003/04.

Having regard to the success of North Ayrshire Council in introducing the brown-bin system, East Ayrshire Council has joined in partnership with North and South Ayrshire Councils recently to propose the introduction of a three-bin system of source-separated domestic waste collection throughout Ayrshire. East Ayrshire Council anticipates that one bin would be used for 'green' garden waste, the second bin for paper, cardboard, pamphlets, etc., with the third bin being used for all residues. The proposal is currently being worked up by the Caledonian Shanks Centre for Wastes Management and is to be the subject of a bid to the Strategic Waste Fund.

It is anticipated that with these new measures in place, the council can meet the 25% total recycling target which is to be met (as announced by the Scottish Executive) by 2006.

Key Drivers
East Ayrshire Council has traditionally maintained environmental issues among the number of key agenda items. The council has a good record of promoting environmental initiatives and following the identification of the waste-management function as being suitable for joint working between the three Ayrshire authorities, took lead responsibility.

The council sees the Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway Waste Strategy Area as an opportunity to investigate areas of closer co-operation and to share experiences. A direct consequence of this sharing is the proposal to introduce the three-bin system in Ayrshire. The council's current strategy documents clearly confirm the council's intention to comply with all legislation (specifically the EU Directive on Landfill).

The announcement by the Scottish Executive of a target of 25% of municipal waste to be recycled or composted by 2006 provides an added incentive for the council to ensure that the new Waste Disposal Contract will not only meet the minimum statutory targets but also offer the opportunity to set accelerated targets which may prove exemplars to others.

Value Statements
East Ayrshire Council will award a contract that will compliment the council's existing and future aspirations for source separation, minimisation and recycling of waste.

East Ayrshire Council will seek to achieve the 25% recycling target which the Scottish Executive has set for municipal waste by 2006.

The introduction of expanded source separation services for domestic premises coupled with the exploration of the potential for expansion of the council's network of 'bring' recycling sites will facilitate a reduction in the amount of municipal waste requiring pre-treatment prior to landfill.

As the council does not currently have the resources to introduce (and service) a three-bin system of household source separation, financial support from the Strategic Waste Fund is essential.

Targets
East Ayrshire Council has been involved since 1996 in the development of the Ayrshire Waste Management Advisory Group and supports and leads the concept of the three council's working towards sharing of expertise, services, resources, etc. The council also promotes and encourages waste minimisation, recycling, etc projects and exercises offered by the community sector and not-for-profit organisations.

2006/2010/2013 Targets
The specification for the new waste treatment and disposal contract requires the successful bidder to meet the statutory diversion targets as a basic minimum. The specification is flexible enough to allow bidders to offer accelerated timetables for meeting the diversion targets and the 25% recycling target recently announced by the Scottish Executive.

All bidders for the new contract due to commence in may 2004 will be made aware of the fact that tenders will be subject to the BPEO scrutiny regime and will have to comply with the final version of the Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway Waste Strategy Area Plan, otherwise the Council will not be able to make application for support from the Strategic Waste Fund.

These aspirational targets may be bettered depending on the outcome of the current tender evaluation exercise; finance available from the Strategic Waste Fund, etc.

Infrastructure
The contract specification for the council's new waste treatment and disposal contract will require the contractor to provide the following:

North Ayrshire Council

North Ayrshire Council has a tradition of self-sufficiency in their waste-management arrangements.

Current waste disposal is carried out utilising a landfill site at Brodick serving the Island of Arran and a landfill site at Shewalton, Irvine serving the mainland and the Island of Cumbrae.

As regards the landfill site at Shewalton, it is likely that landfilling will continue on the current site until August 2005, subject to the satisfactory outcome of ongoing discussions with SEPA. Thereafter it is proposed to make use of another area at Shewalton for which planning permission is already in place and IPPC application submitted, which should facilitate another 8 years landfilling. The latter site will be fully contained and as indicated is the subject of an IPPC application to SEPA.

During the financial year 1999/2000 the council recycled/composted 3.6% of its municipal solid waste. During the period 2000/2001 the figure increased to 8% as a result of the commencement of a scheme for the composting of green waste. A reduction in the recycling figure from 8% to 6.75% in 2001/2002 is expected due to transitional arrangements for introducing the brown bin system in a phased method. Indications for 2002/2003 following the complete introduction of brown bins to all households requiring them will result in recycling figures rebounding to nearer 15% for the period 2002/2003.

At the present time the Council is the only Scottish Council to have made a multi-bin system available to all of its households on the mainland.

Key Drivers
Three key drivers for change in the way waste is managed in Ayrshire and Dumfriesshire were identified in the September report. Firstly, there is the impact of the Euro policies on the environment and the Euro response to the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development in 1992. Secondly, there was the importance of developing a global economy and the need for Ayrshire and Dumfriesshire to ensure that Scotland's economy is sufficiently efficient to compete in the UK, European and global context. Thirdly, there was a direct effect of individual legislation, such as the EU Landfill Directive.

A fourth key driver has now been identified in that the Scottish Executive have advised local authorities that there will be a target of 25% of municipal waste to be recycled or composted by 2006 with a reduction of BMW to landfill to 1.5 million tonnes in 2006. These latter targets, whilst significant can be accommodated within the council's aims and objectives involving waste management.

Value Statements
North Ayrshire Council supports the key principles of sustainable development and through extension of its source separated collection system aims to achieve the targets shown in the AWP.

North Ayrshire Council will seek to achieve the 25% recycling target for municipal waste set by the government by 2005.

North Ayrshire Council will seek to reduce the amount of municipal waste requiring pre-treatment prior to landfill through its commitment to reuse recycling and composting, i.e. source-separated collections.

North Ayrshire Council propose to achieve its targets with initial emphasis on maximising recycling and composting as evidence by the provision of a second 240 litre bin to all participating households, for green waste by 2002.

Targets
North Ayrshire Council currently participates in the Ayrshire Waste management Advisory Group along with East Ayrshire Council and South Ayrshire Council and will consider the development of partnering arrangements with neighbouring local authorities, community sector, not-for-profit organisations, in order to achieve diversion and recycling targets.

2006/2010/2013 Targets
The council proposes to meet the targets laid down in the AWP the development of a modular approach. It is proposed the 2006, 2010 and 2013 will be achieved through maximising a source separated recycling and composting approach. This will involve:

2010/2013/2020 Diversion Target
The council, taking the actions highlighted above and utilising available landfill space anticipates its 2010 targets will be met, and possibly the 2013 targets. However, it will not be possible to achieve the 2020 diversion targets without development of a strategic option for MSW, a process that the council has not embarked on. The council would regard consideration of a process to achieve the 2020 target as premature in light of emerging technologies.

The council is of the view, that the achievement of the 2020 diversion target will involve it in a joint venture arrangement with a third party, yet to be determined. There are a number of emerging technologies that are yet to be fully trialed and evaluated within a Scottish context and accordingly the council do not see any requirement at this time to tie themselves to any technology.

Infrastructure Requirements
As previously indicated North Ayrshire Council currently operates a self-sufficiency policy. It is proposed that the council will seek to provide the identified capacities within their own area and the implications for the authority are as follows:

• Provision of one centralised compost facility.

• Provision of one clean MRF facility or outlet.

• Provision of one centralised treatment facility.

• Provision of one new landfill facility.

• Provision of one new civic amenity site/transfer station.

Whilst the council will do everything in its effort to achieve the above targets it has to be pointed out that a number of factors will have a bearing, namely funding and resourcing issues and the outcomes of the IPPC application currently with SEPA.

Dumfries and Galloway Council

Dumfries and Galloway Council has seven licensed landfill sites. Three are operational and licensed to accept MSW. The other four are licensed but are in post closure and restoration stage, only taking inert waste by appointment. It is the council's intention to close and restore the main site in the east of the authority area (Locharmoss) as soon as practicably possible. Aucheninnes near Dalbeattie will be extended and re-engineered to meet containment requirements of the licence for long term use. The third active site at Galdenoch, Leswalt, Stranraer is in the west of the authority area. It is a relatively small site and accepts waste from the Wigtown area. The site will also be extended and re-engineered for long-term use.

To address its waste-management responsibilities for the future, the council is already procuring a waste-management/recycling project through a Private Finance Initiative (PFI), which is intended to run for 25 years.

The contract will deal with the treatment and disposal of all MSW collected by the council. It aims to meet the requirements of the EC Landfill Directive (99/31/EC) and increase recycling. The Project Company will also be required to manage and operate the council's civic amenity/recycling sites, recycling bring sites and to progressively restore all the council's active and inactive waste disposal sites.

Dumfries and Galloway Council is in a position to put forward the Project Company's proposals for consideration as providing the BPEO for its area.

Tendering and BPEO
The PFI project was drawn up before the development of the AWP. Its main criteria were:

• a need to satisfy domestic and European waste-management legislation;

• a need to deliver value for money;

• a need to comply with regulation at waste facilities;

• a need to secure twenty-first century investment for 21st century legislation and regulation.

The requirements of the developing AWP were introduced as the tendering process progressed. In particular, the need to fit specifically with the AWP and the need to demonstrate BPEO for the waste streams being processed in the chosen option were emphasised.

The process followed was a gradual focusing down through the stages of:

Dumfries and Galloway Council was also required to prepare a Public Sector Comparator, which represented the waste-management option the council would have proceeded with had it had the appropriate funding available. This option was fully costed, primarily as a means of judging the value for money and cost benefits of the options put forward by the various bidders.

Preferred Option
The preferred option provides an east/west solution. About 75% of the MSW will be taken to a centralised pretreatment plant near Dumfries.

The proposed pre-treatment is the Eco-Deco system (refuse-derived fuel plant).

An independent company, BATNEEC Dumfries Ltd. have planning permission for a pyrolysis/gasification plant just outside Dumfries. If this route does not become available then alternative outlets for the fuel will be established. Such an approach does not preclude identifying future means of recovering or recycling the RDF material should technologies change.

The waste in the west area (approximately 25% of total MSW) will continue to go to landfill at Galdenoch, with pre-sorting for composting (approximately 20% of that total) and recycling through civic amenity/recycling sites and bring facilities.

Determination of BPEO
To check that the preferred option fits with the Area Waste Planning process, the council subjected all the bids, plus their Public Sector Comparator, to the BPEO analysis using the options appraisal tool developed for this purpose by SEPA.

The options appraisal exercise was undertaken by:

Results of the analysis are attached below. This level of analysis came out in favour of Dumfries and Galloway Council's preferred option. A variant using a source-segregated collection of waste scored even better. It is proposed, therefore, to introduce source segregated collections throughout Dumfries and Galloway to further increase diversion and recycling figures.

Points to note about the exercise are that no weighting was attached to any of the national criteria, (i.e. they were all given the same relative importance). The overall rating is taken as an average of the scores given to each of the national criteria. The ratings for each of the criteria were all judged relative to landfill (i.e. the overall rating is an assessment of how much better the system is than relying solely on landfill).

Note: none of the national criteria is weighted, therefore the determination of the BPEO is not based solely on the environmental analysis.

Note: it is an integral part of the tender specification that all the proposals must meet the diversion targets.

WISARD Analysis
As well as the appraisal, SEPA used a computer programme called WISARD for its environmental analysis of the environmental impacts. Table 2 summarises the results. This indicates that the option with the least negative environmental impact is Option 5 (a source segregated variant of the council's preferred bid, Option 2). As stated above, it is proposed, therefore, to develop this additional element to enhance the preferred option.

Table 2 below was designed as an aid to ranking AWP options on environmental criteria using the outputs from the WISARD. This simply ranks the impacts on an equal basis. The first three impacts are those that should be taken into account by all WSAGs as they are of national importance. The weighting factors for these cannot be changed. The remaining impacts are those which can be taken into account where a local group considers it necessary. The weighting factors on these can be changed.

When assessing the five options, each impact is scored with 1 the best and 5 the worst. The scores are entered in the table and the weighted results are automatically calculated. The options can then be ranked in order of environmental performance.

Costs
As Dumfries and Galloway Council is still involved in the bidding process it is not possible to provide a detailed costing comparison of the options presented. However, the options are ranked in Table 13, under Overall Costs, Option 2 (the council's preferred bid) being the least cost.

Additional Factors
The council has undertaken an extensive consultation process to determine the general acceptability of the waste treatment and disposal option. It has also gauged public opinion on introducing source-segregated waste collection and/or enhanced recycling facilities to boost recycling and composting figures. A doorstep survey of attitudes to waste, recycling, etc., has been carried out. The council is committed to further expansion of its recycling banks and civic amenity facilities.

Importantly, the proposal is sized to cope with the 2010 projected waste figures at the upper growth rate of 2% (see SWMBA appendix 2).

There has been extensive media and press coverage of the PFI process. Five roadshows to explain the PFI project in Dumfries, Annan, Dalbeattie, Stranraer and Newton Stewart were well attended by the public.

Final Results – Proposed BPEO Implementation
Dumfries and Galloway Council has proposed Option 2 as the preferred bid to form its BPEO. The Council is further proposing to enhance Option 2 with source segregated household collections (Option 5) to achieve an even better BPEO result.

Project Details
Dumfries and Galloway Council supports the key principles of the waste hierarchy, BPEO and sustainable development.

Through the implementation of its Waste-management/Recycling PFI Project the Council will deliver an integrated waste-management service in accordance with these principles to collect, treat and dispose of the Council's waste for the next 25 years.

The various infrastructure proposals for Dumfries and Galloway Council's Waste-management/Recycling Private Finance Initiative (PFI) Project are set out below.

Galdenoch Waste Disposal Site, Leswalt, Stranraer

• The waste disposal site will be developed and engineered to the highest environmental standards to accept waste for the next 25 years.

• The site will continue to provide a civic amenity/recycling facility for household discards free of charge.

• A reception facility will be provided to accept MSW collected by the council in the Wigtown area from refuse collection vehicles (RCVs) where the waste will be sorted into components for recycling, composting and landfilling.

• Composting facilities will be provided and the compost produced will be used to help reinstate the site as operations progress.

• The site will continue to receive commercial and industrial waste on a market led basis.

Aucheninnes Waste Disposal Site, Dalbeattie

• The Waste Disposal Site will be developed and engineered to the highest environmental standards to accept waste for the next 25 years.

• The site will accept inert materials, recycled compostable material and any surplus fuel from the refuse-derived fuel plant at Dumfries.

• The site will continue to receive commercial and industrial waste on a market led basis.

Transfer Station: Stewartry

• A transfer station will be provided to accept and bulk up all Stewartry MSW (waste collected by the council) only, for forward transmission to treatment facilities in Dumfries. All operations carried out indoors.

• Civic amenity/recycling site to be provided (to replace existing at Aucheninnes Waste Disposal Site) for household discards only (waste for recycling and bulky items which will not fit in wheeled bins) free of charge.

Locharmoss Waste Disposal Site, Dumfries

• The waste disposal site will be used until alternative facilities become available. The target is to close, and cap the site within the next 2-3 years, followed by full restoration.

• The site will continue to provide a civic amenity/recycling facility for household discards free of charge.

• A reception and treatment facility Eco-Deco system (refuse-derived fuel plant) will be provided to receive, sort and treat MSW producing a fuel (solid flock) or recyclables. Any residues will be transferred to Aucheninnes Waste Disposal Site.

• The fuel produced will be transferred to a thermal treatment plant.

• A private company (outwith the PFI Project) has planning consent to build a Pyrolysis Plant (compact power plant) next to Locharmoss which will convert the fuel into electricity. The commissioning of this plant is not within the project control.

• Locharmoss Waste Disposal Site will continue to receive commercial and industrial waste on a market led basis until the site is closed.

• The Eco-Deco Plant (refuse-derived fuel plant) will not accept third party waste on a commercial basis.

• The Eco-Deco Plant (refuse-derived fuel plant) will receive all Stewartry, Nithsdale and Annandale and Eskdale MSW collected by the council.

Corsehill Waste Disposal Facilities, Annan

• The existing Transfer Station will receive MSW collected by the council in Annandale and Eskdale for bulking up and onward delivery to the treatment facilities in Dumfries.

• The site will continue to provide a civic amenity/recycling facility for household discards free of charge.

Existing Civic Amenity/Recycling Sites

• These facilities at Blacks Plantation, Whithorn; Jocks Loaning, Dumfries; Gatelawbridge, Thornhill; St Mary's Street, Sanquhar; Muirhead, Lockerbie; and Station Yard, Beattock; will continue to operate and receive household discards free of charge to support recycling initiatives.

Existing Inert Waste Landfill Sites

• These facilities at Blacks Plantation, Whithorn; Gatelawbridge, Thornhill; St Mary's Street, Sanquhar; and Corsehill, Annan; will be closed, capped and restored.

The council through its Waste-management/Recycling PFI Project will also look at enhancing the provision of civic amenity/recycling sites and 'bring' centres for the benefit of communities in Dumfries and Galloway.

Kerbside segregated collections will also be considered for introduction into the collection service to encourage householders to separate out waste at source to enhance recycling and diversion figures. Education projects will be introduced to aid the introduction of any kerbside segregated collections and to enhance waste minimisation and home-composting.

Note: BMSW = 60% of MSW for calculation purposes