Funding boost announced to increase recycling rate in Scotland
Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead has announced that he is increasing the amount of funding available to help councils in Scotland in order to increase the recycling rate
Scotland has a 50% recycling target set for the end of 2013.
Speaking at the Scottish Waste and Resources Conference, Lochhead announced that an additional £1.2m of funding will be available to help increase Scotland’s recycling rate.
The funding will be available immediately and until April 2013 to help councils meet their target commitments and specifically to fund improvements to household waste recycling centres and for increasing collections of glass from households.
The funds will be administered by Zero Waste Scotland, the Scottish Government’s delivery partner.
According to the Scottish Government, this funding is in addition to £5m already made available through Zero Waste Scotland this year to support household food waste collections and will help councils move from the present average recycling rate of 41% to the 50% target next year.
Zero-waste
Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said: “Our vision for zero waste is a long-term ambition – but getting to the point where the majority of our household waste is recycled will be a major milestone, especially considering that before devolution our recycling rate was just 5%.
“We are making funds available to councils to help them meet our ambition. Councils have made huge progress. Seven councils have already hit the challenging 50% recycling target by adopting a ‘can do’ approach. We encourage all councils to work with Zero Waste Scotland and take advantage of this targeted additional investment to help them make further progress.
“But this is also about a much bigger prize. It is about keeping valuable materials circulating in our economy so we can create jobs and business opportunities here in Scotland.”
Welcome
“The CIWM is delighted that the Minister has made this commitment and offered this financial support above and beyond monies already announced,” said Duncan Simpson, chairman of the CIWM Scottish Centre.
“A lot has been achieved by our sector, waste professionals and the public, to date but we all have bigger challenges ahead and the continued support of the Scottish government is greatly appreciated.
“We are further delighted by the fact that the minister has chosen Scottish Waste and Resources event to make the announcement.”
