This National Waste Plan establishes the direction of the Scottish Executive's policies for sustainable waste management to 2020. It is built around a major commitment of funding by the Executive to transform Scotland's record on waste reduction, recycling, composting and recovery. It sets out challenging, but realistic objectives to achieve fundamental change in the way we manage Scotland's waste.

Implementing this national plan will:

• provide widespread segregated kerbside waste collections across Scotland (to over 90% of households by 2020);
  
  
• aim to stop growth in the amount of municipal waste produced by 2010;
  
  
• achieve 25% recycling and composting of municipal waste by 2006, and 55% by 2020 (35% recycling and 20% composting);
  
  
• recover energy from 14% of municipal waste;
  
  
• reduce landfilling of municipal waste from around 90% to 30%;
  
  
• provide widespread waste minimisation advice to businesses; and
  
  
• develop markets for recycled material to help recycling become viable and reduce costs.
  

In this way, Scotland will deal more sustainably with its waste. This will be a major step towards improved resource use and the Scottish Executive's overall goal of sustainable development.

The plan aims to minimise the impact of waste on the environment, both locally and globally, and to improve resource use efficiency in Scotland. It also aims to remedy the environmental injustices suffered by those who have to live with the consequences of a wasteful society. It has been prepared by the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), in consultation with key stakeholders, including the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), the waste industry and the community sector and it forms the next stage in the development of Scotland's National Waste Strategy. It draws together the results of a wider exercise in partnership, co-ordinated by SEPA, which has developed 11 Area Waste Plans across Scotland.

The plan sets out:

• an integrated summary of the 11 Area Waste Plan proposals for the Best Practicable Environmental Option, showing the way forward for municipal waste in Scotland;
  
  
• how other wastes will be tackled;
  
  
• an action plan to implement the changes required; and
  
  
• how the Executive and SEPA will continue to work in partnership with other stakeholders to focus on wider resource use issues in the future.
  

In Building a Sustainable Scotland the Executive set an overall objective of ensuring progress towards sustainable management of Scotland's waste and achievement of European Union landfill reduction targets by 2010, 2013 and 2020. Two interim targets were set to reflect the short-term need to focus on municipal waste:

• to increase the amount of waste collected by local authorities which is recycled or composted to 25% by 2006; and
  
  
• to reduce landfilling of biodegradable waste collected by local authorities to 1.5 million tonnes per year by 2006.
  

This plan sets out how we will achieve these targets and move beyond them.

The Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO) for Municipal Waste

The Area Waste Plans set out the way that waste will be handled in 11 areas across Scotland, each covering one or more local authority areas. They are the result of a major partnership exercise, co-ordinated by SEPA, to establish a consensus between stakeholders in central and local government, industry and the voluntary sector, about the right mix of techniques - the best practicable environmental option (BPEO) - for the future management of municipal waste, as we move away from our present reliance on landfill. The plans take into account the results of extensive public consultation and a national exercise to integrate the plans, ensuring consistency and identifying potential synergies in facility and service development. This has shown that there are significant potential benefits from partnership working between local authorities.

Overall, a radical change is to be achieved in Scottish waste management as illustrated in the figure below. There will be a massive shift away from the current 91% reliance on landfill to a long term target of reducing this to only 31% landfilling, with 69% recovery by recycling, composting and conversion to energy. In practice, much of the early progress in increasing recycling and composting will be achieved by widespread provision, by local authorities, of segregated kerbside waste collection services to many households and other premises across Scotland. By 2010, about 85% will be served by systems appropriate to the local circumstances and by 2020, this should extend to more than 90%.

Figure 1 Municipal Waste Recovery and Disposal under the BPEO (%)

Notes: "Converted to Energy" is that proportion of municipal waste which is converted to energy either by combustion or by processes producing a fuel from waste (refuse-derived fuel, methane from anaerobic digestion, or other liquid or gaseous fuel). It excludes the residues from these processes that may be recycled, composted or landfilled and which are accordingly included in the "recycled", "composted" and "landfilled" figures.

Some Waste Strategy Areas have yet to decide on the particular forms of recovery technology they plan to use after 2010. The estimates of recycling, composting and conversion to energy after 2010 are, therefore, based on some broad assumptions about the types of other recovery technologies that will be adopted in these areas. The powers to enforce SEPA's draft guidelines on energy recovery facilities are under review.

All outcomes are calculated based a forecast of waste growth of an average of 1.9% per year to 2010 and 1.5% per year from 2010 to 2020) and using the standard methods described in Chapter 3.

The European Union Landfill Directive sets ambitious targets for reducing the disposal of biodegradable municipal waste to landfill. The BPEO fulfils these targets, projecting a reduction in the amount of biodegradable material in waste disposed of to landfill to some 1 million tonnes in 2010 (200,000 tonnes or 17% beyond the Landfill Directive reduction target for 2010). By 2013 the level will have fallen to 760,000 tonnes, 80,000 tonnes beyond the target, and by 2020 to 560,000 tonnes, just beyond the 2020 reduction target.

A vital component of the plan is to limit waste growth. Every Area Waste Plan has committed to action to achieve this, by working individually, collectively at a Scottish level, and with UK-wide initiatives, to encourage the reduction of waste at source.

Costs
A broad estimate of the current operating costs of collecting, treating and disposing of municipal waste across Scotland is approximately £220 to 240 million a year or about £70 per tonne. Using the same method and based on today's prices, the operating cost of waste management under the BPEO is projected to increase to:

• £340 to 370 million in 2010 (£90 to £100 per tonne);
  
  
• £360 to 420 million in 2020 (£85 to £95 per tonne).
  

Over the same period capital expenditure of some £700 million will need to be invested in new infrastructure for municipal waste (1).

Non-municipal Waste
Municipal waste is just part of the picture. Many other types of waste (manufacturing, construction, demolition, clinical etc.) must also be addressed if we are to achieve the goal of sustainable development. Achieving more sustainable management of non-municipal wastes will require significant progress to be made, by SEPA and others, both nationally and at a Waste Strategy Area level over the next few years in a number of key areas, including waste data collection, producer behaviour, provision of technical guidance on specific wastes and a BPEO assessment methodology for non-municipal wastes.

The plan summarises the available data on non-municipal waste production and treatment. The main driver to reduce landfill of these wastes, and encourage waste minimisation and recycling, is the landfill tax. The recent proposal to significantly increase the level of the tax on landfill of active waste (to £35 in the medium term) will provide a stronger incentive to businesses to consider more sustainable waste practices. Provision of direct advice to businesses on waste minimisation will also encourage this change.

Implementing the Plan
Implementation of the plan will be built around continuation of the partnership working that has underpinned development of the Area Waste Plans and the National Plan. This will involve the Executive, SEPA, local government, industry, and the community sector.

The first key step in implementing the National Waste Plan is the preparation by local authorities of bids to the Strategic Waste Fund for funding to help put the area plans for municipal waste into practice. Funding will be awarded on the basis of implementation plans, which must be in line with the area plans and demonstrate how authorities will ensure that value for money is obtained (making maximum use of joint working where appropriate).

The targets in the Area Waste Plans will be given statutory force. Once enacted, the Local Government (Scotland) Bill will place a new duty on local authorities to prepare integrated waste management plans for Ministers' approval. The Executive will use this provision to direct authorities to establish mandatory targets which they must then endeavour to meet, as well as provide regular reports on progress. The targets will be based on the Area Waste Plans.

The Executive also plans to establish a statutory system of landfill allowances for local authorities to enforce a reduction in the landfilling of biodegradable municipal waste and ensure that Scotland as a whole meets its share of the UK targets set by the Landfill Directive.

Individuals have a crucial part to play, as waste producers and as consumers. The major changes that we expect to see from implementing the national plan will require a massive shift in waste producer and consumer culture. The plan includes sustained national and local education and awareness campaigns to build on the undoubted enthusiasm of the great majority of the Scottish public for change.

Land-use Planning: The National Waste Plan requires a significant increase in the number of facilities to sort and process materials prior to recovery and treat remaining waste residues before disposal. In view of the lead-in times for waste-related developments, it will be essential for planning authorities to have regard to the need for new facilities in order to ensure that Scotland maintains an adequate capacity to handle its waste now and in the future. The plan sets out the role of planning authorities and the Area Plans provide information on the new facilities which will be required to implement
the plan.

Markets for recovered materials are crucial if recycling, composting and other recovery are to be viable and suitable use and value are to be obtained from materials recovered from waste. Expanding existing markets and developing new markets will be essential if Scotland is to improve its poor record. As well as providing significant environmental benefits, market development will also provide business development opportunities and crucial support for local authority and community sector recycling initiatives. Market development for collected materials is a major priority. The plan describes the work that is being carried out by two Executive-funded projects, Waste and Resources Action Programme and ReMaDe Scotland.

To facilitate the forward management and direction of the National Waste Plan a Stakeholder Advisory Group, which will be chaired by the Executive, and an Annual Stakeholder Seminar will be established.

Notes
(1) This estimate is based on public procurement of new facilities and does not take into account either financing costs or savings that could be achieved by procurement through the private sector.