Scotland unveils £3.8m recycling fund

A £3.8 million fund for waste sorting, repair and recycling projects launched by the Scottish Government has been unveiled.


Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead launched the Scottish Recycling Fund (SRF), which is designed to help businesses develop green infrastructure proposals, at the Safeguarding Scotland’s Resources Conference in Edinburgh on 20 February.

The fund will make loans available to organisations interested in developing capacity for the sorting, repair and reprocessing of waste materials including textiles, tyres, plastics, glass, food waste, WEEE and plasterboard in Scotland.

The Scottish Government hopes that through improved infrastructure, waste will be ‘transformed’ into high value materials – while also cutting carbon emissions.

The initiative is an expansion of the existing Scottish Plastics Loan Fund, established in 2012, and will be carried by Zero Waste Scotland in partnership with the Scottish Investment Bank.

Speaking about the fund, Lochhead said: “The Scottish Government is backing the industries of the future by making this £3.8 million available to those interested in developing our waste reprocessing industry. By increasing our capacity to deal with this waste here in Scotland, we’ll be less exposed to volatile overseas markets, creating more of the useful raw materials that our business sector requires.

“Realising the value in our waste materials like plastics, textiles and glass will make our economy more circular, while reducing our carbon emissions. I’d strongly encourage any organisations with innovative ideas on waste to find out how this funding can benefit them, making Scotland greener, cleaner and more affluent in the process.”

Liz Gyekye

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