Environment Minister announces £3 million for recycling in Scotland

The money, which was originally announced by former Environment Minister Sarah Boyack in October last year (see related story), is part of the Strategic Waste Fund, designed to kick-start local authority projects. In November, authorities were invited to submit proposals for projects showing how they wished to spend the funds to increase or improve recycling and/or composting in their area. The projects range from the purchase of equipment such as shredders, recycling collection banks and vehicles to the provision of advice and development of composting operations. According to the minister, the variety of projects indicates how different solutions to waste recycling problems are appropriate in different areas.

“Meeting our National Waste Strategy requires a massive change in the way in which Scots deal with waste,” commented Galbraith. “For far too long our modern ‘throw-away’ society has ignored the implications of choosing the easy way out by dumping everything in landfill sites. The implication of these actions are now well known. To stop the inevitable pollution this creates we must rethink the way we tackle waste and focus on minimisation, reuse, recycling and composting.”

“It is a widely held view that the public want to recycle more but they also want easy access to facilities to enable them to do so,” added the minister. “The £3 million that I am distributing today will allow councils to put in place tailor-made facilities to make it easier for people to recycle locally.”

Local authorities are currently working with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to prepare Area Waste Plans outlining how future waste management should be carried out in each area.