Question reference: S6W-17722
- Date lodged: 2 May 2023
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Current status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 5 May 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the publication of Dr Church’s second report on the decarbonisation of residual waste infrastructure in Scotland on 3 February 2023, when it plans to publish its response.
Answer
The First Report of the independent review of incineration was delivered in April 2022. Having accepted all of its recommendations, we have already taken actions to deliver the commitments we set out in our response. This includes introducing new restrictions on the development of energy from waste proposals in National Planning Framework 4, and working with UK Government to develop a methodology to report emissions from energy from waste separately.
Following careful consideration of the key findings and recommendations of Dr Church’s Second Report, we have published our response to the Report today. The Scottish Government’s response is available at: Scottish Government Response to: Stop, Sort, Burn, Bury? The Independent Review of the Role of Incineration in the Waste Hierarchy in Scotland. Second Report: Decarbonisation of Residual Waste Infrastructure in Scotland. Our response accepts, in full or in principle, all of the report’s recommendations and sets out the actions we are taking to decarbonise the waste sector, in particular by ending the unnecessary incineration of plastics.
Our 2022 Waste & Circular Economy Route Map consultation set out a range of proposed measures that will support the ambition to end the unnecessary incineration of plastics. These include continuing to deliver the £70 million Recycling Improvement Fund, implementation of extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes, and greater transparency in the end destination of recycling collected. In addition, we will continue to work with other governments of the UK to consider the expansion of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme, which the Report notes could be an important decarbonisation tool.
We are also continuing to incentivise and support the deployment of combined heat and power, including for incineration facilities through our £300 million Heat Networks Fund. This is available across this Parliamentary session to support the rollout of new zero emission heat networks and communal heating systems, as well as the expansion and decarbonisation of existing heat networks across Scotland. Further details on implementing these recommendations will be incorporated into the final waste Route Map.
I would like to thank Dr Church for his hard work in delivering this important report for Scotland.