Question reference: S6W-09424
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 28 June 2022
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Current status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 21 July 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the estimated cost is of exporting residual waste to England in each year from 2025 onwards.
Answer
The recent independent review of the role of incineration found that while there may be a temporary under-capacity of residual waste treatment in Scotland in 2025, when the ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste comes into force, there is a risk of long-term overcapacity beginning from 2026 or 2027, if all or most of the incineration capacity in the pipeline is built. The review noted that export is a feasible short-term option for the treatment of residual waste in order to bridge the expected capacity gap, but did not assess the cost of this option.
The most recent assessment of costs was the Waste Markets Study in 2019, which was commissioned to assess readiness for implementing the ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste and considered potential costs of available options, including exporting waste. The report can be found here: Waste markets study: full report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .