Scotland’s environmental watchdog has been asked to investigate the Scottish Government’s failure to stop energy-from-waste (EfW) capacity increasing, two years after a moratorium was introduced.
An effective ban on new developments was announced in June 2022, with councils told not to grant permission to new sites following an independent review.
But NGOs say EfW capacity has increased by 17% since the moratorium was put in place, asking Environmental Standards Scotland to investigate “before it is too late”.
Kim Pratt, circular economy campaigner from Friends of the Earth Scotland said the Scottish Government was “turning a blind eye whilst Scotland’s waste burns”.
“It has the power to halt the increase in incineration today, but it has repeatedly refused to act, despite the clear evidence of loopholes in its incinerator ban,” she said.
The Welsh Government implemented its own moratorium on new large plants in 2021 while the Conservative Party has pledged to pause new developments in England should it win re-election next month.
UK ministers implemented a controversial seven-week pause in April to assess national capacity, citing concerns over public health and depressed recycling rates, after having previously said it would let the market decide on EfW projects.
The 2022 review of Scottish capacity noted there were seven operational incinerators in the country, with a further eight having full planning permission.
Finding current incineration capacity of just over one million tonnes, the review predicted that, by 2027, planned capacity would exceed the 2.3 million tonnes of residual waste then being produced in Scotland.
As well as the moratorium on new planning permissions, the review also recommended an ‘indicative cap’ for residual waste treatment. While the government accepted all recommendations, environmental groups say no such cap has been forthcoming.
The Scottish Government and Scottish Environmental Protection Agency have been approached for comment.
Ben Christman, solicitor with the legal charity the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland said the Scottish Government’s moratorium has “more holes than Swiss cheese”.
The groups said that, since the moratorium, Viridor’s Dunbar EfW plant had increased capacity by 65,000 tonnes while the 150,000-tonne-a-year NESS Energy Project in Aberdeen had begun operation.
Rebecca Glen from the campaign group Irvine Without Incinerators said it shouldn’t be left for local activists to challenge new projects.
“The Scottish Government should respect not only the letter, but the spirit of their moratorium on incineration and intervene before they completely lose the trust of people who recognise the need to move away from incineration and towards a circular economy model.”
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