This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Views sought on reducing landfill waste
16/12/2003
A
consultation on measures aimed at reducing the level of
waste Scotland sends to landfill was launched today.
Environment Minister Ross Finnie, set out the
Executive's proposals for the introduction of a landfill
allowance scheme. The proposed scheme will help Scotland
meet its National Waste Plan targets to reduce the level of
biodegradable waste sent to landfill by 65% by 2020 by
allocating allowances to local authorities in
Scotland.
Local authorities will be able to bank and borrow their
own allowances and may trade them with other authorities.
The proposals are included in a consultation paper: "
Reducing Landfill: A Landfill Allowance Scheme"
published today.
Mr Finnie said:
"The throwaway society is unsustainable. We are
determined to reduce dramatically the resources we squander
by landfilling.
"The National Waste Plan will massively increase the
amount of waste we recycle and reduce the amount of waste
we landfill.
"This innovative scheme will enable local authorities to
reduce the amount they landfill in a cost-effective and
flexible way. It will encourage them to divert
biodegradable waste away from landfill sites, reducing the
overall levels of methane emissions.
"The scheme is a crucial element of the National Waste
Plan and is a vital mechanism for meeting Scottish and
European targets for reducing landfill."
The Executive is consulting all local authorities and
those in the waste management industry on the details of
the scheme.
The National Waste Plan 2003 establishes the direction
of the Scottish Executive's policies for sustainable waste
management to 2020. It sets out objectives for changing
the way Scotland's waste is managed, including specific
reductions in the level of municipal biodegradable waste
landfilled in 2006.
The Landfill Directive (99/31/EC), which all member
states have agreed, includes specific targets for reducing
the level of municipal biodegradable waste that is sent to
landfill in 2010, 2013 and 2020. Following a Sewel motion,
the UK Waste and Emmissions Trading Act 2003 sets out a
framework for a landfill allowance scheme in Scotland and
the UK.