SCOTLAND has failed to meet a target to recycle 60% of household waste by 2020 as efforts to encourage people to think green have flatlined over nearly ten years, it has emerged.

Scottish household recycling rates grew by an average of 9% per year between 2005 and 2010.

But new analysis shows that we are now actually recycling less than we did in 2011, with Angus, the only local authority in Scotland to come close to hitting the 60% mark.

Some are blaming the failure on the pulling down on the ringfencing of Scottish councils' recycling funding in 2007 allowing local authorities to spend the money on other services.

The recycling results are a blow to the green credentials of the Scottish Government which has set a target to reach net zero on emissions by 2045 at the latest.

Recycling rates for 2020 were at 42% - a drop from 44.9% in 2019 - believed to be connected to the Covid-19 pandemic.

But according to Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) data the rates have barely improved since 2011 when 39.5% of household waste was being recycled.

In 2011, 1,029,744 tonnes of household waste was being recycled, in 2020 it was 1,020,278 tonnes.

The Herald: Tesco rolls out recycling points for bread bags, crisp packets and pet pouches. (Credit: Tesco/PA)

That is despite the fact that the amount of household waste generate in Scotland has dropped from 2,606,759 tonnes to 2,429,057 tonnes.

Scottish Environment LINK (SEL) coalition of more than 30 leading charities said government action was needed to drive meaningful change to improve recycling rates as the nation has also set a target to have 70% of waste recycled by 2025.

In March, in advance of the UN Climate Change Conference (Cop26) in Glasgow the Scottish Government announced a five-year £70m fund to improve recycling infrastructure across Scotland to accelerate progress towards Scotland’s waste and recycling targets and a net zero commitment.

Phoebe Cochrane, sustainable economics officer with SEL said the the recycling target results were "disappointing".

"We know we produce far too much waste, that our ‘throw away’ culture is bad for the planet and we also know we can’t go on like this. Improved labelling and making recycling easy for people are important but companies and the government also have a role in making sure that materials we use can be recycled.

"The Scottish government’s forthcoming Circular Economy Bill, due to be introduced next year, is a great opportunity to rewire our economy so that we use the planet’s resources more wisely. To make a real difference, it must set clear targets to reduce Scotland’s overall use of raw materials. We also need a comprehensive set of policies that will actually make this happen.

"Everyone can play their part - we all need to think about ‘reduce’, ‘reuse’, and recycle, as priorities on a daily basis.

"But the bottom line is that even with the best will in the world, without meaningful changes driven by government we will not see the improvements so urgently required. "

South Ayrshire were the kings of recyling in 2020, reprocessing 0.28 tonnes of waste per person - the best record of all the 32 local authorities. Angus, East Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire came a close joint second with 0.26 tonnes.

Shetland propped up the recycling league table with just 0.07 tonnes per person, followed by Orkney (0.09), Glasgow City (0.12) and and Dumfries and Galloway (0.13).

Angus recycles 57.9% of its household waste, the highest proportion of all local authority areas in Scotland, followed by East Renfrewshire (56.6%), South Ayrshire (55.3%) and Moray (54.9%).

The Herald:

Dundee waste bosses recent said they would need almost two decades to hit 2025 recycling targets.

But the city which recycles 35.7% of its household waste is by no means the worst performer in Scotland.

Shetland only recycles 18.4% of its household waste, the worst record of the Scots council areas, followed by Orkney (23.4%), Glasgow City (29.6%) and Dumfries and Galloway (30.1%).

Conservative North East MSP Maurice Golden who hass sought commitment from Dundee to meeting the 2025 target, said the blame on poor performance had been placed on the high proportion of flats and tenements.

John Crawford, who has worked in the Scottish waste industry for several decades said that the PR approach to increasing recycling through measures like charges on plastic arrier bags had "achieved nothing".

"We need to get back to tried and tested procedures if we want to reduce landfill, as well as a national strategic plan that people like me have been calling for decades," he said.

He suggested a ban on councils charging for collecting garden waste bins or other recyclable materials.

He said the Covid impact on waste recycling performances was "a red herring" He said Alex Salmond pulled down the ring-fence from Scottish councils' recycling funding in 2007 and since then, all progress made from 2000 to 2006 had stalled, as local authorities then used the money for other non-waste management issues.

Circular economy minister Lorna Slater said: “We have recently provided £20 million of support for local authorities to help them increase recycling and cut emissions. This is the beginning of one of the biggest investments in recycling in Scotland in a generation.

“We also want to see materials remain in use for as long as possible before they are recycled and will be introducing an ambitious Circular Economy Bill to help make that happen.

“As well as reducing and recycling, we must deal with waste effectively. That’s why we have initiated an independent review of the role of incineration, which will make sure it aligns with our emissions reduction targets.”

It emerged last week that Scotland was burning nearly four times more household waste than it did five years and is now incinerating almost as much as it is landfilling, it has emerged.

The development prompted new concerns that Scotland's incineration problem is going "unchecked" and shows not enough is being done to tackle the climate emergency.

Environmental campaigners say incineration contributes to climate change by emitting greenhouse gases from the waste burnt.

Friends of the Earth Scotland said that it shows that "valuable resources are sent up in smoke" and that the impact of burning plastic in particular was damaging the planet.

According to the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), the rise in incineration is likely to be the response of Scottish local authorities and waste management companies to divert waste from landfill ahead of the ban of biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) to Scottish landfills in 2025.

Most new incinerators market themselves as ‘energy-from-waste’ or ‘waste-to-energy’ plants meaning that they can make electricity or produce heat.

But critics say this is not a form of renewable energy as municipal waste is non-renewable, and focusing on these types of plants diverts opportunities away from "real renewable energy" solutions.

Last month, the Scottish Government instructed councils to call in applications for new waste incineration plants - a move that was in the past used ahead of a moritorium on fracking.

Ministers are now conducting a major review into incineration and its place in dealing with waste in Scotland.