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Waste Management in Scotland
Devolved power comes with greater responsibilities. Under the EU Landfill Directive the Scottish Government is deemed by the British Government to be responsible for compliance with a proportion of the UK’s overall target to reduce the disposal of waste to landfill. The Scottish Government could be responsible for a proportion of EU fines if Scottish local authorities were partly responsible for the UK’s non-compliance with Landfill Directive targets.
Scotland also has its own environmental regulator (the Scottish Environment Protection Agency), with differing powers and responsibilities compared to the Environment Agency in England and Wales. This has resulted in a different approach to environmental regulation and enforcement of, for example, the PPC regime in Scotland.
National Waste Policy
The Scottish Government’s policy on waste management was announced in January 2008, as follows:
- preventing municipal waste growth by 2010;
- 70% recycling and composting of municipal waste by 2025 (with interim targets of 40% by 2010; 50% by 2013 and 60% by 2020);
- no more than 5% of municipal waste landfilled by 2025;
- new targets for limiting the landfill of commercial and industrial waste;
- a cap of 25% on the treatment of municipal waste by EfW by 2025;
These targets are likely to be adopted within the revised National Waste Management Plan which, following a period of consultation, is likely to be published in February 2010.
Local authority funding
The Scottish Government revoked the Strategic Waste Fund allocations established by the previous administration and funding for waste management is therefore no longer ring-fenced.
Instead, the Scottish Government has established Local Outcome Agreements with Scotland’s local authorities. Such Agreements provide local authorities with considerable discretion on how to invest and plan for waste management with minimal direction from the Scottish Government.
Thermal Treatment
SEPA has published its revised thermal treatment guidelines setting out its approach to the permitting of thermal treatment plants. The guidelines form a material planning consideration in SEPA’s engagement with planning authorities in the preparation of development plans and in the determination of planning applications. The guidelines aim to ensure that plants:
- only treat residual waste;
- are part of an integrated network of other waste management facilities; and
- recover and use energy derived efficiently.
The guidelines apply to incineration, gasification, pyrolysis and plasma systems. Anaerobic digestion is also included within the scope of the guidelines but only in respect to the gas use.
In a change to SEPA’s initial approach, the Quality Assurance for Combined Heat and Power (CHPQA) standard has been adopted as the approach to establishing how much energy should be recovered from waste thermal treatment plants.
This approach requires plants upon commencement of operations to achieve at least 20% energy recovery efficiency: this may be achieved through electrical-only power generation. The applicant should demonstrate, through a heat and power plan, how heat could be used to enable the plant to move towards good quality combined heat and power in the shortest practicable time. The heat and power plans should aim to deliver required efficiencies over a period of 4 to 7 years.
Whilst such efficiencies may take time to achieve, as policy and incentives develop, operators are expected to ensure that plant design can accommodate the installation of additional energy recovery equipment.
SEPA’s PPC permits are likely to include requirements to:
i) achieve the minimum power (or equivalent) efficiency required upon commencement of operations (i.e 20%);
ii) operate and maintain in such a manner to avoid prejudicing additional energy recovery over that achieved on initial commencement of operations;
ii) maintain and update the heat and power plan, including a requirement to make annual reports on progress; and
iv) achieve a required threshold (30-45% efficiency depending on plant and capacity).
Scottish Futures Trust (SFT)
The Scottish Government devised the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) as a proposed alternative to the PFI model of funding investment in public capital infrastructure. Through public sector guarantees, SFT would borrow at lower rates than the private sector. SFT would be established as a limited company but would not retain any profits for shareholders, instead reinvesting any financial surpluses in new public infrastructure. It was proposed that SFT could sublet contracts to private sector partners for the construction and operation/maintenance of a facility but these would be owned by the SFT.
The Scottish Government proposed that SFT would be operated on the basis of a Non-Profit Distributing (NPD) model, which is a form of public private partnership, but unlike PFI, would be 100% debt financed and uncapped equity returns would not be permitted.
The Scottish Government’s proposals for SFT have been subject to intense parliamentary scrutiny and it now appears likely that the SFT might simply be a delivery mechanism, pooling local authorities’ procurement expertise, rather than providing an alternative source of funding for new infrastructure.
The Scottish Government has yet to offer clarification on how waste management infrastructure might be delivered through SFT.
Landfill Allowance Scheme
The Scottish Government has announced that the Landfill Allowance Scheme remains suspended for the remainder of the current parliament. Scotland’s local authorities therefore do not need to engage in the trading of landfill allowances and would not be liable for exceeding landfill allowances.
Waste Protocols
The Waste Protocols developed by the Environment Agency do not apply in Scotland
In attempting to address the point at which waste ceases to be a waste, SEPA has expressed support for technical standards, such as PAS. Whilst PAS100 had been incorporated into a Quality Protocol for compost, SEPA considers certainty of end markets as the principal issue in determining the end of waste status of compost.
SEPA is therefore likely to produce ‘end of waste’ guidance for a limited number of waste streams, and incorporating an appropriate technical standard.
Environmental Permitting
The Environmental Permitting Regulations introduced in England do not apply in Scotland. Instead, SEPA is of the opinion that a range of technical improvements to the Scottish licensing regime can be made without radical change to the entire system, and therefore propose improvements through the Better Waste Regulation initiative.
Last Updated: July 2009
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