Area Introduction

The Ayrshire, Dumfries & Galloway waste area covers the four local authority areas of North Ayrshire Council, East Ayrshire Council, South Ayrshire Council and Dumfries and Galloway Council.

The AWP sets out the best practicable environmental option (BPEO) for the management of the area’s MSW. This calls for:

• Preventing waste generation at source
• Source segregation of recyclable materials through kerbside collection and bring sites
• Materials recovery facilities (MRFs) for sorting and sending on materials for recycling
• Centralised mechanical biological treatment facilities
• Energy recovery from waste
• Use of other appropriate waste recovery/treatment technologies.

The AWP’s MSW targets are 19% recycling, 14% composting, 8% other recovery/treatment and 59% landfill by 2010. The targets for 2020 are 34% recycling, 18% composting, 20% other recovery/treatment and 28% landfill. In 2003/04, 5.9% of the area’s MSW was recycled and 5% was composted, with the rest going to landfill. All four local authorities have begun kerbside recycling schemes and four community reuse/recycling projects have secured funding from Transforming Waste Scotland.

Funding awards to the local authorities in 2003/04 from the Scottish Executive will help to develop the infrastructure necessary to meet the AWP’s targets. Local Waste Aware campaigns will seek to change attitudes to waste.