STOPPING plastics from being incinerated is one of the ‘key’ recommendations from an independent review into decarbonising the treatment of residual waste.
The Scottish Government appointed Dr Colin Church act as independent chair of the report, with it following last year’s review of the role of incineration in Scotland which recommended placing a cap on future capacity and led to ministers putting restrictions on the development of further incinerators.
Dr Colin Church has made several new recommendations in the latest edition of the review with a view to reducing the carbon impact of residual waste treatment infrastructure – including stopping plastic from being incinerated in Scotland
In addition, he has recommended taking forward policies to reduce plastic production and use; promoting source segregation of all plastics, and implementing advanced sorting to remove plastics from black bag waste; and using the heat from incinerators where possible, for example for homes and businesses.
Dr Colin Church said, “Incineration remains a more climate-friendly method of managing residual waste than traditional landfill, and more practical than any other currently available approach. However, without further action, this advantage will erode over a relatively short time. That is why my second report sets out a series of recommendations to improve the carbon impact of residual waste treatment, of which the most urgent and potentially most impactful is the cessation this decade of the incineration of plastic.”
Circular economy minister, Lorna Slater, said, “I would like to thank Dr Church for this report, which will make an important contribution to ensuring that the management of residual waste in Scotland aligns with our greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.
“Of course, the best way to reduce harmful emissions from our waste is to prevent it from occurring in the first place. That is why we have already banned many of the most problematic single-use plastic products and will soon be presenting a draft Circular Economy Bill to parliament. This will establish the legislative framework to support Scotland’s transition to a zero waste and circular economy.”
