On the 21st September, Scottish Finance Minister John Swinney announced a raft measures aimed at achieving the Scottish Government’s targets of a 70% recycling rate, and a reduction of waste-to-landfill to 5% by 2025.
Mr Swinney outlined that as part of achieving these targets, assistance would be given to small businesses to reduce their waste and manage their energy consumption more efficiently, whilst help would also be given to individual house holders to cut down on their waste, in particular food waste. The Minister further highlighted the Scottish Government’s commitment to green causes, by way of the £70.8 million spent in the pursuit of the “Zero Waste Scotland” program. Not only would these measures help reduce Scotland’s carbon emissions, Mr Swinney argued, but it would also help secure Scotland’s place in the new renewable energy industry. He pledged that the spending review would allocate £200 million to be invested into the renewable industry between 2012 and 2015.
Finally, it is possible that if the Scotland Bill is passed, the new tax powers given may provide the opportunity to tax landfill sites differently. However, there are fears that criminals may cash in on the price discrepancy regarding waste disposal.
