Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-09303 on 5 July 2022. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The recent independent review of the role of incineration found that while there may be a temporary under-capacity of residual waste treatment in Scotland in 2025, when the ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste comes into force, there is a risk of long-term overcapacity beginning from 2026 or 2027, if all or most of the incineration capacity in the pipeline is built.

We are working closely with local authorities to support those that do not currently have solutions to the forthcoming ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste in 2025. The support includes facilitating collaborative procurement and providing technical, procurement and legal support for local authorities.

As part of the national conversation about our National Parks, we are considering the roles and functions National Park Authorities should have to help them continue delivering the aims set out in the 2000 Act, but also to play a key role in addressing the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change. We will consider consultation responses carefully, including any which propose changes to primary legislation.

The Scottish Government has engaged with a wide range of drinks businesses throughout the policy development and implementation stages for our Deposit Return Scheme (DRS), including through two stages of consultation (running from 25 June 2018 – 25 September 2018 and 10 September 2019 – 10 December 2019) which any business could participate in. We have not carried out any engagement relating to DRS specifically directed at retailers selling hampers, parcels, or gift sets, but many such retailers would have been captured by this wider engagement.

The recent independent review of the role of incineration found that while there may be temporary under-capacity of residual waste treatment in Scotland in 2025, when the ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste comes into force, there is a risk of long-term overcapacity beginning from 2026 or 2027, if all or most of the incineration capacity in the pipeline is built.

The review noted that export is one of the short-term options for the treatment of residual waste in order to bridge the expected capacity gap. However, we will continue to work closely with local authorities and commercial operators to support those that do not currently have solutions to treat their residual waste ahead of the forthcoming ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste in 2025, taking account of the recommendations of the independent review and ongoing assessment of residual waste requirements and available capacity.

Under Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012, SEPA may only grant a permit in respect of a specified waste management activity if it is satisfied that planning permission is in force under the Town and Country Planning Act (Scotland) 1997 where the use of the site for the activity requires such permission. As such, SEPA are unable to issue permits if a facility does not have planning permission.

That is why, in line with Dr Church’s recommendation that no further planning permission is granted unless balanced by an equal or greater closure of capacity, (with limited exceptions for remote and rural areas, if fully justified) we will keep in place the Energy from Waste Notification Direction. This requires planning authorities to alert Scottish Ministers of new planning applications that involve incineration facilities and to notify Scottish Ministers if they are minded to grant planning permission to such facilities. This gives Ministers the opportunity to decide whether there are national interests at stake which would merit Ministers calling in an application for their own determination or to allow the local authority to issue the decision at local level.

Since July 2021 we have met representatives of small brewers on the following occasions: 5 August 2021, 7 September 2021, and 28 October 2021. This is in addition to small brewers’ representatives participating in wider Scottish Government engagement such as the DRS System-Wide Assurance Group.

The recent independent review of the role of incineration found that while there may be a temporary under-capacity of residual waste treatment in Scotland in 2025, when the ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste comes into force, there is a risk of long-term overcapacity beginning from 2026 or 2027, if all or most of the incineration capacity in the pipeline is built. The review noted that export is a feasible short-term option for the treatment of residual waste in order to bridge the expected capacity gap, but did not assess the cost of this option.

The most recent assessment of costs was the Waste Markets Study in 2019, which was commissioned to assess readiness for implementing the ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste and considered potential costs of available options, including exporting waste. The report can be found here: Waste markets study: full report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Zero Waste Scotland is an independent, not-for-profit organisation. Its work in relation to staff wellbeing and working practices is an operational matter for the body. I have asked Zero Waste Scotland’s CEO to respond directly to you on this matter.

The Scottish Government is already taking measures to reduce the quantity of plastic in the residual waste stream. In terms of reducing the proportion of recyclable materials (which include plastics) in residual waste streams, we have implemented bans on problematic single use plastic items and confirmed over £20 million-worth of investments in local recycling infrastructure from our £70 million Recycling Improvement Fund, funding a range of improvements including boosting Scotland’s capacity to recycle problematic materials like plastic films. Additionally, we are implementing Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme and reforming extended producer responsibility for packaging.

To build on this progress, our recently published Waste Route Map consultation contains a number of proposals to reduce the proportion of recyclable materials in the waste stream, including reducing consumption of single use items, mainstreaming reuse and improving recycling from households and businesses, for example, by facilitating the co-design of high quality, high performing household recycling and reuse services. The consultation on the Route Map also sets out a proposal for the Scottish Government to facilitate the development of a sector-led plan by 2024 to restrict the carbon impacts of incineration and proposes to work with the waste and resources sector to accelerate the reduction of the carbon impacts of existing incineration plants. We will begin by focusing on measures to divert the highest carbon-emitting materials from incineration, such as plastics.