National Waste Strategy
Scotland has been traditionally reliant on landfill to dispose of its waste. We are now moving away from landfill to more sustainable options for our waste, such as: reducing, reusing, recycling and composting.
- The National Waste Strategy: Scotland, published in 1999, set out a framework for sustainable waste management in Scotland and marks a fundamental change in the way waste is managed.
- The National Waste Plan 2003 establishes the direction of the Scottish Executive's policies for sustainable waste management. The National Waste Plan commits us to the following targets:
- 25 per cent recycling/composting of municipal waste by 2006
- 55 per cent recycling/composting of municipal waste (35 per cent recycling and 20 per cent composting) by 2020
- Stop growth in the amount of municipal waste by 2010
- Reduce landfilling of Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW) to 1.5 million tonnes by 2006
- Provide segregated kerbside waste collections to over 90 per cent of Scottish households by 2020
New target arising from Spending Review: 2004
- 30 per cent recycling/composting of municipal waste by 2008
EU Landfill Directive target:
- Reduce landfilling of Biodegradable Municipal Waste to 75 per cent of that produced in 1995; further reduced to 50 per cent by 2013 and 35 per cent by 2020.
Recycling Rates
Information on Scotland's recycling rates can be found on the Scottish Environment Protection Agency's website
Waste Awareness
Funding is being provided to the Scottish Waste Awareness Group (SWAG) to provide a national campaign called 'Waste Aware Scotland'. The campaign is aimed at raising the awareness of, and changing attitudes and behaviour to reduce, reuse and recycle.
Recycling In Your Area
You can find out information on recycling and where your nearest recycling facilities are on the Sort It Website
Waste Prevention
The Household Waste Prevention Action Plan shows how we aim to halt growth of household waste by 2010
The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) is being funded to do work on waste prevention. This includes home composting, and work with retailers to reduce packaging and food waste. In particular, WRAP have launched an Innovation Fund to encourage innovative design of supermarkets' products and packaging to minimise waste.
Non-Municipal Waste
The Business Waste Framework for Scotland 2007 outlines the Executive's approach to business waste.
Non-municipal waste accounts for around 75 per cent of Scotland's waste. As landfill tax increases, so does the need for business to reduce, reuse and recycle their waste. We support services such as Envirowise and the Business Environment Partnership to help companies reduce their waste. In partnership with representatives from business and local authorities.