Current status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 14 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the use of the woody residue from filters used to clean emissions from wood drying and board pressing processes, known as crumb waste, as a fuel for electricity generation.
The Scottish Government supports the use of crumb waste as a fuel for electricity generation, where it adheres to the guiding principles for bioenergy as set out in our draft Bioenergy Policy Statement (BPS).
These include prioritising the use of available waste feedstocks so that the use of biomass complies with the principles of a circular economy and a cascading use of biomass, which means wood being first used where it can deliver the highest economic and environmental benefit (for example in construction), then life extension, reuse and recycling of the wood should be sought before use in bioenergy applications. We want to ensure that any feedstock utilised for electricity generation has no wider residual value within society.