5.5 Monitoring Progress and Performance

Monitoring and review of the Lothian and Borders Area Waste Plan performance will be an important element in measuring the influence and success that the plan will have in managing wastes in the Lothian and Borders as well as meeting the various targets established. This will ensure that the plan continues to be effective and deliver the improvement in waste management at both the local and national level.

It is intended that an annual Area Waste Plan progress report will be provided to the Scottish Executive with a summary of the annual forward development plans. This will ensure that the area plan can remain current, highlight progress on implementing the Area Waste Plan and flag up key issues that need to be addressed by a future review of the Plan.

Given that the MSW BPEO process was a rigorous and consensual process, involving all Local Authorities and a range of other key stakeholder bodies, it is proposed that the aggregated figures from the Area Waste Plans should form the basis for national recycling and recovery MSW targets. It is also proposed that the targets post 2010 should be reviewed in line with revised area waste plans. This would take into account the progress made in achieving the 2010 target and issues such as the future adoption of new technologies and application of legislation.

5.5.1 Application of Municipal Solid Waste Targets

Figure 10 in Section 3.3 indicates the projected waste recovery for the years 2010, 2013 and 2020 for the Lothian and Borders. The five Local Authorities within the Lothian and Borders can meet the AWP targets either collectively or individually. Collective working will allow for greater flexibility by allowing each authority to concentrate on the recycling, composting or energy recovery which best suits their individual circumstances. However, each Authority will have to be clear from the outset what their share of the target tonnage is. This will require a high level agreement between each Authority in the Waste Strategy Area. Individual working will not provide the same level of flexibility and arbitration may be required to split area targets into individual authority targets if agreement cannot be reached between local authorities on how to apportion the targets between them.

Following feedback from national consultation, relevant guidance will be produced on the application of MSW targets and will inform the AWP accordingly.

5.5.2 Indicators

The Area Waste Plan is setting out the forward direction in taking the first steps towards making the significant changes that are required to change our “throw away” culture to a more waste-aware, resource-efficient society. The magnitude of this change is substantial and to ensure that the plan becomes a reality, the monitoring and reporting of it’s implementation will be essential.

A wide range of stakeholders will have a key role to play, not only in the implementation of actions but in the monitoring and communication of progress made, continuing the partnership approach that has been at the heart of the development process to date.

Table 20 sets out the proposed indicators that would contribute towards the National Monitoring framework along with identified sources of information that can be utilised to gather annual data for reporting requirements. Over the next year, the baseline for the Lothian and Borders will be established against which to benchmark future progress on these indicators.

Table 5.1 sets out the proposed indicators.

Table 5.1 - Indicators

Indicators 10, 11, and 12 will be monitored on a 5 yearly basis as the annual change is likely to be minimal.

5.5.3 Monitoring Framework

The Waste Strategy Area Group will be responsible for developing an annual progress report and an annual forward-development plan for the following year. The annual Area Waste Plan progress reports will be complimentary to the National Waste Plan monitoring framework and will be provided to the Scottish Executive with a summary of the annual forward development plans. This will ensure that the Executive are aware of progress on each Area Waste Plans and are kept abreast of key issues that need to be addressed. The annual reports will also be made publicly available.

As the issue of waste management is changing at such a significant pace, the Area Waste Plan will not only required annual monitoring of progress, but will be reviewed every 3 years in the first phase of implementation, to respond to developments in new technologies, improved data on waste composition and projections of future waste growth. This review period may be extended to 5 years in the longer term if thought appropriate by the waste strategy group.