- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 20 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the ministerial statement on 24 January 2008, whether it will clarify what exactly will be counted as recycling in respect of meeting waste targets.
Answer
The previous administration, in Technical Notes relating to spending reviews, used a definition of recycling, including organic waste which is composted, contained in the Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997. This definition is that recycling means the reprocessing in a production process of the waste materials for the original purpose or for other purposes including organic recycling but excluding energy recovery.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 20 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the ministerial statement on 24 January 2008, whether it intends to agree specific targets on waste with each local authority.
Answer
Yes the Scottish Government does intend to agree specific targets on waste with each local authority, principally to ensure that each local authority diverts sufficient biodegradable municipal waste from landfill in order for Scotland to meet its EU Landfill Directive obligation in 2010 and also to ensure that each local authority contributes to National Indicators 39 (amount of waste going to landfill) and 32 (ecological footprint) within the Scottish Government''s National Performance Framework.
Scottish Government will seek to ensure that local authorities contribute towards the National Performance Framework by agreeing local outcomes to be included in their single outcome agreements (SOAs).
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 20 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in respect of its targets on waste, it will pay the fines of local authorities that now have to change their plans for dealing with waste, following the ministerial statement on 24 January 2008.
Answer
No. The Landfill Allowance Scheme (Scotland) Regulations 2005 set maximum amounts of biodegradable municipal waste that can be disposed of by local authorities to landfill each year and any penalty liabilities that are notified by the Scottish ministers under the regulations fall to the local authorities themselves. In any event, the distribution of year-on-year allowances has only been set up until 2010 and none of the local authority plans envisaged delivery of infrastructure before this time.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 20 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to set targets for the recycling and reduction of (a) commercial and industrial, (b) construction and demolition and (c) agricultural waste.
Answer
The Scottish Government intends to consider setting targets for waste in these sectors as part of the review of the National Waste Plan.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 20 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to update planning guidance on waste in order to reflect the new waste targets and, if so, when.
Answer
As the Government indicated in the Parliamentary statement on waste on 24 January 2008, we will ensure that the new National Planning Framework reflects the government''s key objectives on waste.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 20 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in respect of its new targets on waste, it will pay the fines of local authorities that have submitted plans to it which the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment has not approved.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-9129 on 20 February 2008. 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/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 20 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Environment Protection Agency will be expected to give local authorities specific advice in achieving the proximity principle, whereby there is a presumption that all schemes will be located close to the source of the waste and will be of an appropriate scale.
Answer
It is not for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to advise local authorities on the proximity principle. Instead, it is for the land-use planning system to determine the location of plants. SEPA is a statutory consultee on planning applications relating to waste management facilities.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 20 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive why, following the recommendations of the Sustainable Development Commission, it has not extended its waste strategy to include commercial waste.
Answer
The Parliamentary Statement on waste policy on 24 January announced the government''s intention to review the National Waste Plan. The review will consider commercial and industrial waste and, as indicated in the statement, the government will consult on new targets to reduce the amount of commercial waste that goes to landfill.
Landfill Tax, a key policy lever in relation to commercial and industrial waste, is a reserved matter. However, the Scottish Government is carrying out or supporting a wide range of work on commercial waste including producer responsibility, the report by the Wood Fuel Task Force and Envirowise, which provides advice to business on waste prevention:
http://www.usewoodfuel.co.uk/Docs/WFTF%20final%20report%20for%20web.pdf, http://www.envirowise.gov.uk/scotland.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 29 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Richard Lochhead on 20 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the proximity principle will be a material issue for determining planning applications for new waste facilities.
Answer
Although priority must initially be given to the development plan in determining a planning application, other relevant issues may also be considered depending on the facts and circumstances of each case. The proximity principle may therefore be a material consideration in determining planning applications for new waste facilities.
- Asked by: Sarah Boyack, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 31 January 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 20 February 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on the Scottish Sustainable Procurement Action Plan, as referred to in paragraph 7.25 of Energy Efficiency and Microgeneration: Achieving a Low Carbon Future: A Strategy for Scotland - draft for consultation, March 2007.
Answer
The proposed content of the Scottish Sustainable Procurement Action Plan is with the cross-sectoral Public Procurement Policy Forum for comments. Their views are being considered at present.
