The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Progress in waste targets being met
Vision to make Scotland a country that produces no waste requires everyone to change their mindset
The Scottish Government’s two waste targets are for 70% to be recycled and a maximum of 5% sent to landfill by 2025.
Progress has been made with household waste, the recycling rate rising to 44.2% (1.091 million tonnes) last year, according to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.
The quantity of household waste landfilled in 2015 fell to 1.15m tonnes (46.4%) as a result of greater recycling and incineration.
The proportion of composted waste not reaching quality standards and diverted from landfill was 9.2% (226,390 tonnes).
Scottish Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said: “The downward trend is continuing, which is great news for our action on climate change.”
She called for further progress and, with more local authorities signing up to the household recycling charter, she said Scotland was on the way towards a more consistent approach to recycling.
The 16 who have signed up include Dundee, Fife and Perth and Kinross.
Angus recycled 59.2% of its household waste, landfilled 22% and diverted 18.8%.
Dundee recycled 33.3% and sent 6.9% to landfill – the lowest rate in Scotland. The 59.8% it diverted from landfill was the highest rate on the mainland.
Fife had a household recycling rate of 52.3% but sent 42.9% to landfill and diverted 4.8%.
Perth and Kinross recycled 54.2% of household waste, landfilled 35.2% and diverted 10.5%.
In the Scottish Government’s vision for a society that produces no waste, all unwanted material should be recycled into useful products or resources to prevent pollution, conserve non-renewable natural resources and reduce energy costs.
It recognises that achieving that goal requires a change of mindset, with everyone starting to view waste as a potential resource.