Tayside Area Waste Plan

The National Waste Strategy: Scotland (NWSS) establishes key principles, which need to be taken into account in developing a sustainable future for waste management. These have influenced the development of the Tayside AWP. These are:

How these principles will affect the development of waste management systems and methods in Tayside is described below.

The waste hierarchy provides a framework within which the most desirable waste management options are set out. Within Tayside, in common with the majority of Scotland, existing waste management practices are towards the bottom of the hierarchy. The objective of sustainable waste management is firstly to minimise the amount of waste being produced at source and thereafter increase the percentage of waste that can be reused, recycled and recovered. Ultimately the percentage of waste being disposed of to landfill should continue to reduce.

What this means for Tayside is described below.

Waste Prevention
The need to prevent and reduce the amount of waste being produced has never been greater. Waste prevention therefore forms a key element of the National Waste Strategy: Scotland. Waste prevention can be achieved at a number of stages in a products life cycle, including product design, changes to management and production processes and the development of clean or ‘wasteless’ technologies. Householder behaviour and consumer choice have a significant role to play in waste prevention.

Waste prevention initiatives must address two distinct waste streams:

Household waste is by far the greatest proportion of MSW. By minimising the growth of household waste, the diversion required to meet the landfill directive targets can be significantly reduced. For example in Tayside, the rate of waste growth to 2020 has been assumed to be 2% (based on past growth rates and future household change). If this growth rate were reduced to 1% then some 42,000 tonnes of BMW would not require to be diverted from landfill. Prevention of household waste will also be assisted by other initiatives (for example producer responsibility legislation, education and awareness initiatives), and action by householders such as home composting.

For commercial and industrial wastes, there is a great deal of evidence which demonstrates that waste can be significantly minimised at various stages of manufacturing processes providing a financial benefit to the company as well as reducing the environmental impact of waste.

Reuse and Refurbishment
In recent years there has been a decline in the reuse and refurbishment of consumer durables as the cost of replacing them has fallen in relation to the cost of repair. However, as well as removing items from the waste stream, reuse and refurbishment are linked to job creation and economic improvement. There are already reuse and refurbishment schemes in operation in Tayside ranging from the reuse of old clothing through to the refurbishment of furniture and computers. It is considered that there remains potential for future expansion and opportunity for stimulating this type of activity in Tayside.

The stakeholder consultation process highlighted opportunities for increasing reuse and refurbishment. This was seen as having many social benefits including the opportunity of employment for those who have difficulty in obtaining employment, and enabling those on low incomes to afford goods they previously could not.

Recycling
Recycling is the separation of a material for processing, followed by preparation and sale onto a market to replace an existing virgin material. The most commonly recycled materials include newspaper, cardboard, glass and metals. There are numerous environmental benefits such as reduced air emissions, reduced impacts of extraction, energy savings, lower disposal impacts and more efficient use of raw materials. There are often other benefits such as encouraging producers to take responsibility for their wastes and economic benefits such as improved competitiveness or greater employment opportunities.

The collection of wastes as separate material fractions reduces contamination and the need for additional separation processes. This retains the quality and value of the waste materials.

Angus, Dundee City and Perth and Kinross Councils have amongst the best records of all local authorities in Scotland for recycling. The following materials are recycled:

Composting
Composting is the aerobic decomposition of organic material to produce a stable material containing organic matter and plant nutrients. There can be benefits in applying this material to land including nutrient addition, improved soil structure and improved water retention. These benefits are best realised through the use of source segregated uncontaminated compostable wastes.

The three Tayside local authorities use open windrow composting methods to compost green wastes with some success.

Energy Recovery
Energy recovery involves recovering part of the energy value from waste, either by burning or thermally treating the waste directly (for example incineration) or by burning a fuel produced by the waste (as with refuse-derived fuel or landfill gas). Energy is then recovered through the production of electricity or utilisation of heat produced in the process. The energy conversion efficiency of the plant will depend on the specific design e.g. recovery of energy through combined heat and power.

For further guidance on energy recovery from wastes, reference should be made to SEPA’s ‘Guidelines and Approach to Thermal Treatment and Energy From Waste’ available at www.sepa.org.uk/nws.

The DERL (Dundee Energy Recycling Limited) energy from waste plant is operational in Dundee. It has a capacity of 120,000 tonnes a year, which comprises 105,000 tonnes of MSW and 15,000 tonnes of commercial and industrial wastes including some clinical waste. Energy in the form of electricity is produced by the plant, and is sold into the National Grid. The plant uses bubbling fluidised bed technology. There are wastes in the municipal waste stream, that are not suitable for combustion in the DERL plant and for some wastes greater value can be recovered through recycling or reuse. The plant has a life expectancy of 20 years.

Waste Disposal
Landfill disposal sits at the base of the waste hierarchy for the following reasons:

Landfill will, however, continue to form part of an integrated waste management system of treatment and disposal options for the foreseeable future.

This means waste should be disposed of as near as possible to the point at which it arises. Most of waste originating in Tayside is managed within the area, with the exception of wastes requiring specialist treatment, such as hazardous wastes, and wastes being sent for recycling e.g. paper. These wastes are often transported as far as the south of England. However, as greater quantities of material for recycling are collected then there will be more opportunities for the development of local markets and reprocessing facilities in Tayside and other parts of Scotland.

BPEO is the outcome of a systematic and consultative decision-making procedure, which emphasises the protection, and conservation of the environment across land, air and water. The BPEO procedure establishes, for a given set of objectives, the option that provides the most benefits or the least damage to the environment as a whole, at acceptable cost, in the long term as well as in the short term. Within the National Waste Strategy: Scotland framework, this includes balancing social, economic and environmental costs and benefits. The Tayside AWP describes the BPEO for MSW and sets out the process by which the BPEO will be determined and implemented for all other wastes.