SNP may delay landfill ban to stop rubbish being sent south
The SNP could delay a ban on landfill in Scotland to prevent up to 100 truckloads of rubbish a day being moved to England.
John Swinney said it was 'not acceptable for a large amount of waste to be transported' south of the Border when the ban comes into force at the end of this year.
The First Minister said 'several options' were being explored to avoid this in discussions with local authorities and waste management firms.
Pressed directly, he refused to rule out a further delay to the ban, which was originally scheduled to come into force in 2021.
It emerged earlier this week that the SNP's ban on 'black bag' waste being buried in landfill is expected to lead to 600,000 tons of rubbish being transported to England in the first year.
Industry experts warned that this was the equivalent of 80 to 100 trucks of waste per day being moved south of the Border. Scotland does not have enough incinerators to handle the rubbish.
BBC Scotland's Disclosure programme reported that councils and commercial waste companies have been approaching rubbish handling operators in England to negotiate 'bridging contracts'.
However, most incinerators have very little spare capacity, meaning much of Scotland's excess waste is expected to be landfilled in England.
Among the rubbish barred from landfill in Scotland will be non-recyclable black bag municipal waste, wood, textiles, paper and food. Some inert material, such as ash from incinerators and building rubble, will still be allowed at landfill sites.
Mr Swinney told First Minister's Questions: 'I do not think that it is acceptable for a large amount of waste to be transported from Scotland to England. The landfill ban will be a significant step in reducing methane emissions in Scotland.
'Methane is a greenhouse gas that is around 28 times more potent in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period. Preparations have already been made for the ban coming into force and the vast majority of councils have solutions in place.'
He added: 'We are working closely with the waste sector and exploring several options to ensure that we are reducing any environmental impacts as much as possible.'
Earlier this week, SNP ministers ruled out a further delay to the ban but Mr Swinney failed to repeat this when asked directly.
He said 'options' were being 'explored' with councils and waste management firms to avoid the 'scenarios' of waste being moved to England.
Asked a second time if the landfill ban could be delayed, he said: 'We're looking at steps that could be taken to make sure that we avoid the situation.'
Maurice Golden, a Tory MSP, said the SNP Government's 2013 recycling targets 'remain unmet' and pointed out that the ban would mean £75 million of landfill tax revenue going to the UK Treasury instead of the Scottish Government.
He told MSPs that the ban would also result in tens of millions of pounds in costs to small and medium-sized businesses, adding: 'It's the ultimate farce.'
Liam McArthur, a Liberal Democrat MSP, challenged Mr Swinney: 'How would the Scottish Government respond if hundreds of truckloads of waste from England were dumped in Scotland daily?'
The Scottish Government originally planned to impose a ban on sending biodegradable waste to landfill from January 2021 but the deadline was pushed back five years after industry leaders warned the country was not ready.
A lack of waste treatment capacity at the time prompted warnings that a million tons would have to be disposed outside of Scotland, with the majority of it simply shifted across the border to England.
This prompted a rush to build more incinerators but SNP ministers decided to curtail the number of developments over concerns there would be overcapacity. There are currently eight operating in Scotland.
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