Seòmar agus comataidhean

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-02236 on 14 September 2011. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

Currently only certain materials such as liquid waste, clinical waste and other potentially hazardous substances are banned from landfill, largely on the basis of environmental and health impacts.

The EC Landfill Directive requires Scotland to reduce the amount of biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill to 1.8 tonnes by 2013 and 1.26 tonnes by 2020 and that Scotland has already achieved its 2013 target.

Notwithstanding this success, the proposed landfill bans within the draft Zero Waste Regulations are aimed at maximising Scotland’s approach to recycling and resource recovery of its waste.

Scotland’s Zero Waste Plan is underpinned by the Waste Framework Directive and the main driver of the directive is the Waste Hierarchy. We are committed to ensuring that these wastes are managed further up the hierarchy and away from the basic disposal method of landfill. The banning of source segregated and separately collected materials from landfill will ensure that they are recycled and as a consequence, Scotland’s dependency on landfill will be significantly reduced.

The proposed Zero Waste Regulations will ensure that separately collected dry recyclables and food waste are banned from both landfill and incineration. These bans will be universal and apply regardless of the source of the waste.

The draft Regulations also contain a requirement that every effort is made to remove all recyclable material from an unsorted waste stream before the remaining residual element can be incinerated. This effectively means that “black bin bag” waste or waste which has not been collected separately cannot be sent direct to mass incineration without first having been subject to some form of pre-treatment. This provides a second opportunity to remove recyclable materials missed at the source segregation and separate collection stage. This will ensure that Scotland does not simply move from mass landfill to mass incineration.

The intended effect of this restriction is to ensure that only materials which cannot be recycled are available for incineration. This reduction in potential “feedstock” for incineration facilities is unlikely to reduce the number of speculative planning applications in the short-term, but it will ultimately limit the number that are built.

The Scottish Government recognises that we have limited biomass resource in Scotland and if we are to meet the target for renewable heat and power, it is vital that we make the most efficient, effective use of that resource. The Scottish Government would prefer to see biomass deployed in heat-only or combined heat and power schemes, off grid-gas use, at a scale appropriate to make best use of both the available heat, and of local supply. In addition, ministers have already outlined that they would review the Renewables Obligation Scotland support in order that it reflects our policy in this area.

The Zero Waste Regulations will ensure that only a limited quantity of material will be available for incineration in Scotland. All inputs will have to be treated and recyclate removed before energy can be reclaimed. These restrictions will limit the economic viability of large plants. In addition SEPA Thermal Guidelines on Energy from Waste, which are a material consideration during the planning process, detail the efficiency requirements of new projects. These stringent efficiency guidelines make the construction large scale plants impractical.

Scottish Government officials based at the Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen, who are the Marine Scotland on call Duty Officers, were first notified of the spill via a telephone call from Shell at 1pm on 11 August 2011. As is routinely the case in relation to the hundreds of offshore oil and chemical spills notified each year, a watching brief was maintained at that stage, as the volume and nature of the spill was not clear. Ministers were notified the following day after Shell provided information on the scale and extent of the incident.

The update and replacement of Planning Advice Note 63 - Waste Management Planning 2002, will address good practice in development planning and development management across all waste streams. It will include advice on factors such as location, need, public engagement, awareness, infrastructure delivery, operation, monitoring and compliance.

The Scottish Government supports business and industry through a number of avenues to help business and the public sector in Scotland to reduce carbon emissions, improve business efficiency and with carbon management planning. The Carbon Trust have indicated the latest results for 2010-11 show annual savings of at least 284kt CO₂ and £31.8 million in reduced annual energy costs. Our Energy Saving Scotland small business loans scheme offers small and medium enterprises interest-free loans for renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency measures. This scheme paid out over £2.4 million through more than 80 loans during 2010-11.

The Scottish Government is committed to simplifying the landscape for energy and resource efficiency advice to business. We have established a single Scottish Energy and Resource Efficiency Service for business, bringing together key delivery bodies (including Carbon Trust, Energy Saving Trust, Zero Waste Scotland and SEPA), our enterprise agencies and Business Gateway. The new service will provide greater cross-referral, encouraging businesses to consider taking action on energy and wider resource efficiency at the same time.

Scottish Government has been working closely with Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) on the UK Energy Bill. Mr Neil is also a member of the Ministerial Oversight Group set up to facilitate cross government working on the Bill. We have worked to ensure that the UK Bill reflects Scottish interests and that it recognises Scottish devolved areas of responsibility. The UK Energy Bill sets out the framework for the Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation policies and we have been working with DECC to ensure that Scotland can implement these in a manner that meets Scotland’s specific circumstances e.g. location, climate, house types etc. A particular priority for us is to ensure that the Green Deal acts to support the Scottish Government's Energy Efficiency Action Plan. We have a member of Scottish Government staff working in DECC to assist with this process.

The information requested is given in Appendix A of the Progress Report on the Low Carbon Building Standards Strategy for Scotland published by the Scottish Government in February 2011, a copy of which is available in the Scottish Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib number 53209).