Scotland – Government consuls on the sustainable management of waste from business and public sector

The Scottish Assembly has issued a consultation paper to seek views on the development of a framework for non-municipal waste in Scotland. The proposed framework will highlight the increasing importance of waste management to businesses in Scotland. It will outline the services currently available to business for the prevention and management of waste from business, propose areas for further development and seek views on outstanding issues for further consideration.



Background



The National Waste Plan (2003) outlined the Scottish Executive‘‘s intentions in relation to the future management of waste in Scotland. Since then, the Executive has provided resources to local authorities, through the Strategic Waste Fund, to improve recycling facilities and invest in longer term facilities to treat waste.



However, the National Waste Plan concentrated on household waste. The bulk of Scotland‘‘s waste – around 75% of it – is not generated by households. The Scottish Executive and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency ( SEPA) have produced this paper, which outlines some of the steps already taken in this area and seeks views on what more could be done. In this paper, the term “commercial and industrial waste” has been used to refer to non-household waste generated by the private, public and voluntary sectors (with the exception of radioactive waste, which is covered by separate legislation). This could include waste generated by commercial activity ( e.g. manufacturing) or from the activities of employees (eg waste arising from consuming food and drink).



The broad thrust of the Scottish Executive‘‘s policy in relation to commercial waste is similar to our policy in relation to domestic waste. It aims to move further away from landfill and towards waste prevention; recycling and composting and the use of other technologies to treat residual waste