Government suspends fines for offenders
By Rob Edwards, Environment Editor

Seven Scots councils have failed to meet government targets to cut the amount of waste they dump in landfill sites, according to new figures from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa).

The worst offender was Aberdeenshire, which sent 10,600 tonnes more waste to landfill than it should have. The six others which breached their targets for 2007-08 were Aberdeen, North Lanarkshire, Inverclyde, Highland, East Lothian and Perth and Kinross.

The councils, and the Scottish government, have faced criticism in the past for not doing enough to encourage recycling, but have hit back by pointing to new schemes that are under way.

To coincide with a major waste industry conference in Glasgow last week, Scottish ministers publicised the latest local authority waste statistics, and hailed the fact that the overall recycling rate had increased by 3.3% to 31.7% in 2007-08 as "a great leap forward".

But buried in Sepa's tables was a less welcome revelation: more than 35,500 tonnes of biodegradable municipal waste had been dumped as landfill by councils in excess of the amounts allowed under the European landfill directive.

In England, councils which dump too much waste have to buy landfill space from other councils, or face fines of £150 per tonne. The Scottish government has suspended fines pending a review.

"Everyone is praising Scotland for its ambitious vision for waste, but so far this isn't being backed up by action on the ground," said Alex Marshall from the ENDS environmental journal.

Dr Dan Barlow, head of policy at WWF Scotland, argued that recycling should be stepped up and waste reduced. "Failure by these local authorities to meet their landfill targets is at odds with the Scottish government commitment to work towards zero waste," he said.

Environment secretary Richard Lochhead accepted the performance of a small number of councils had been "disappointing", and said the government would work with them to minimise landfill waste. He said: "Scotland's performance on waste has come on leaps and bounds and is improving at a rate similar to the rest of the UK. There is, however, no room for complacency."

The councils did not dispute they had breached the targets. Aberdeenshire blamed its increasing population, and stressed how much its residents were doing, including taking part in a food waste scheme in north Aberdeenshire.

Aberdeen City said its plan for an energy-from-waste plant had been delayed because it had been refused planning permission. It planned to cut wheelie bin collections to every fortnight from next year, but achieving high levels of recycling and composting would still be "a massive challenge".

North Lanarkshire said its performance had improved since the new figures had been collected, and an extra 25,000 tonnes of waste would be diverted from landfill over the next year. Inverclyde, meanwhile, was considering "enforcement action" against residents who failed to comply with council policy.

Highland claimed new waste treatment facilities were needed, while Perth and Kinross said its target was "particularly challenging" because its recycling levels had long been better than most. East Lothian did not comment.

On a positive note, however, Sepa's head of waste, Kenny Boag, noted that the majority of councils had in fact met their landfill target.