Scotland's National Waste Strategy

Scotland currently produces around 12 million tonnes of waste each year (about 2.5 million tonnes is household waste). In 2003/2004, 85% of municipal waste was disposed of to landfill, 12.3% was recycled and the remainder was used for the recovery of heat, power or other energy sources. The National Waste Strategy: Scotland, published in 1999, set out a framework for sustainable waste management in Scotland and marks a fundamental change in the way waste is managed. The National Waste Plan 2003 brings together the outcome of 11 Area Waste Plans to show the way that waste management will change over the next 20 years. This has been built around a major commitment of funding to transform Scotland's record on reduction, reuse, recycling, composting and recovery. The Executive has set targets to recycle or compost 25% of waste collected by local authorities by 2006 and 55% by 2020, and established the Strategic Waste Fund to assist local authorities to meet these targets.