Recycling targets to be missed by 12 years

Targets for household recycling will be “significantly” missed if current trends continue, it has been claimed.

The Scottish Conservatives said the percentage of recycled household waste has only risen from 40.1% to 45.6% between 2011 and 2017.

The analysis claims if the same trend continues, it will take until 2032 to meet the national of target of 60% by 2020.

The figures come as the opposition party plan to highlight environmental issues in the Scottish Parliament next week.

Maurice Golden, Scottish Conservative environment spokesman, said the SNP appeared to have “no ability” to substantially improve household recycling.

He said: “The SNP must dramatically increase our recycling rate and ensure that Scotland is playing its part in tackling climate change.”

But the Scottish Government said the claim ignored major policy initiatives such as the forthcoming deposit return scheme for bottles and cans and past trends were “not a reliable guide” to the future. The Scottish Government added: “What is more, we have seen good progress on recycling of waste from all sources to date, which reached 61% this year, an increase of 4.6%.”