September 29, 2008 Minutes
Zero Waste Think Tank, Edinburgh, George Hotel
Present
Jan Bebbington, member of the Think Tank
James Curran, member of the Think Tank
Chris Ewing, member of the Think Tank
John Ferguson, member of the Think Tank
Iain Gulland, member of the Think Tank
Peter Jones, member of the Think Tank
Andy Law, member of the Think Tank
Jude Maxwell, member of the Think Tank
Nicki Souter, member of the Think Tank
Kim Fellows, Scottish Government (chair)
Gordon Jackson, Scottish Government
Simon Stockwell, Scottish Government
Emma Taylor, Scottish Government
Apologies for absence
Jim Baird, member of the Think Tank
Nick Hanley, member of the Think Tank
Peter Lederer, member of the Think Tank
Kit Strange, member of the Think Tank
Introductions and Welcome
1. The Chair outlined the aim of the meeting:
- The challenge for the Think Tank is to turn the visions, information and ideas developed over the last few meetings into productive and achievable outputs in the time allocated to the Think Tank
- To agree how the ZWTT will continue to function over the next 6 months and what will the key outputs be by February 2009
2. The Chair indicated that, following discussions with COSLA in line with the Concordat, the Cabinet Secretary had approved the top 5 projects put forward by the Think Tank (as outlined in Paper ZWTT (2008)(10))
3. The Minutes from the 23 June 2008 meeting were approved subject to an amendment to make it clear that the scenario planning would help identify future Think Tank work.
Waverley Consultants outputs paper on vision session held on the 15th August
4. The Chair thanked the Think Tank for the comments received to date and asked that any additional written comments be sent to the Scottish Government by 13 October
5. The Think Tank agreed that it was a very useful report which has collated the ideas/visions identified on the day. The Think Tank agreed that the report should be published, once Members had provided written comments.
6. The following comments were made:
- The actions and milestones from the report identified key areas which the Think Tank could progress
- Starting with the end markets and working back would be a re-orientation of the current way of thinking
- Key themes which could be further developed by sub-groups were: Regulation; Delivery; Evidence Base; Business Resource Efficiency; and energy, carbon, climate change and environmental sustainability
- Short, Medium and Long term targets must all be considered. There is a lot already happening and Scotland must not miss out on the opportunities arising now
- Achieving delivery was a key issue
- Key tasks to be developed by the Think Tank were a vision statement; barriers and risks; and timelines
- Other major issues were procurement (both procuring infrastructure and sustainable procurement) and governance
- When it finished its work in February, the Think Tank could leave a "legacy" report of what needs to be achieved
- There was scope to utilise existing landfill capacity/sites to build up/develop waste infrastructure such as Anaerobic Digestion. This has already been recognised in the 1999 strategy, so it was about making this actually happening on the ground.
- West Midlands Development Agency have identified the "organic" material going to landfill and the calorific value of this material and what energy/fuel/fertiliser this could potentially offset
7. The group agreed that Evidence Base was a priority. Work on the evidence base required by the National Waste Plan review had been started by the Scottish Government. The list of evidence required would be circulated to Think Tank members and to key bodies, such as COSLA, for input and comment.
8. It was agreed that sub-groups would be set up to look at the following themes:
- Waste Contribution to the Energy/Climate change/sustainability Agenda: (Chair: Jan Bebbington). To identify where energy and waste should be linked, what tools can be used and who could assist with policy links.
- Regulation: (Chair Iain Gulland). Linking in with Better Waste Regulation and producer responsibility
- Delivery: (Chair John Ferguson) Aim to prepare half day workshop on delivery for the next Think Tank meeting
- Business Resource Efficiency Support: (Chair Peter Jones). Looking at both advice to business on waste minimisation (and related issues) and opportunities for business in Scotland from sustainable waste management.
The Scottish Government would circulate some short templates to help guide the work of the sub-groups.
The actions arising were:
Scottish Government: To forward evidence base list
- Think Tank Members: To forward comments on the Waverley Report to the Scottish Government by 13 October, including any Zero Waste visioning points they wish to include
- Nicki Souter: To forward the working Zero Waste Definition for comment by the Think Tank
- Scottish Government: To publish Waverley Report once comments received
- SEPA: To forward the landfill capacity (2006 data) outputs to the Think Tank, including any information on landfill gas capture
- Peter Jones: To forward summary/key findings of the West Midlands Development Agency Report
- Scottish Government: To speak to Kit Strange (as well as Jan Bebbington, Chris Ewing and Iain Gulland) about the work on exemplars from other countries
- Scottish Government: To forward sub-group templates
- Chairs of sub-groups: To take forward sub-groups
Paper ZWTT (2008) (10) - ZWTT Projects
9. The Think Tank were content for the top 5 projects to go ahead. The Scottish Government is awaiting further feedback from COSLA on projects 6,7 and 8, especially the latter two.
10. The Think Tank discussed how best to take action on Project 3 (potential public sector body to sell recyclate). This had long been discussed but little had actually happened. The recent Audit Scotland report had noted that some Scottish Local Authorities receive lower prices for their recyclates than their counterparts elsewhere in the UK and this might be a spur for action. New approaches could include a presentation to the local authorities of the Norwegian experience and evidence from WRAP on their experiences in England.
The action arising was:
- Scottish Government: To take forward the agreed projects, keeping members of the Think Tank informed
Paper ZWTT (2008) (11) - Consolidated Actions Arising
11. The following points were made:
- The Scottish Government will advise the Think Tank on future progress on action 17 (potential primary legislation on waste).
- It would be helpful to consider further if any "demonstration" waste management plants should be established in Scotland, to help promote innovation and economic opportunities. However, other financial pressures meant that Zero Waste Fund resources would not be available for this work.
- On action 32 (data), SEPA would forward a table outlining current waste data available, quality and gaps. The Think Tank noted that a Commercial and Industrial Waste Data Group is to be reconvened to work with delivery bodies to get some improved data on waste streams.
- Actions 35 and 36 (mind-mapping session on design) would be deleted as no longer applicable
The actions arising were:
- Scottish Government: To keep Think Tank members informed of progress on potential legislation
- SEPA: To send Think Tank members a short table on waste data, showing availability, quality and gaps
- Scottish Government: To delete actions 35 and 36, on design
Paper ZWTT (2008) (12) -National Waste Management Plan Review
12. During the discussion, the following points were made:
- The Scottish Government was aiming to start the full consultation in April 2009 with the final Plan published in 2010.
- There would be more informal consultations with key bodies before April 2009.
- Commercial and industrial waste data was a major issue for the Review and was closely linked to the issue of waste capacity needs.
- Another major issue was the need to include waste infrastructure in development plans: currently, many developments plans did not adequately reflect the need for waste infrastructure.
- In the interim there was a need for some guidance on a variety of issues so that current opportunities are not missed and short term targets can be met. In addition, waste infrastructure had long lead-in times.
- Issues requiring early guidance included: commercial and industrial waste data requirements; capacity requirements for waste infrastructure; the timetable for municipal waste procurement projects; and procurement systems.
- It might be helpful to invite SESA to a Think Tank meeting to discuss issues such as waste data; landfill bans and land-use planning.
Date of next meeting
13. Key points raised were:
- The full meeting originally planned for 31 October would be cancelled. In the meantime, the sub-groups would meet.
- The next full meeting of the Think Tank would be on 28 November.
- The Agenda for the full meeting on 28 November could be a half-day workshop on delivery (as developed by the delivery sub-group) and a discussion on key points (or "deal breakers") identified by the other sub-groups.
The actions arising were:
- Scottish Government: To organise full meeting on 28 November 2008
- Chair of delivery sub-group: To advise the other Members of the Think Tank, and the Secretariat, by Monday 10 November 2008 what the half-day workshop on delivery on 28 November 2008 could consist of
- Chairs of other sub-groups: To advise the other Members of the Think Tank and the Secretariat, by Thursday 20 November, of key points arising from their sub-groups
Scottish Government
October 2008