IN the future, Scotland will be completely waste-free, with every scrap of leftover food recycled and a new use found for all our rubbish. At least, that is the aspiration of the Scottish Government.
However, experts agree that getting to that stage is a huge challenge.
Yesterday, new figures were released showing we are now recycling 31.2 per cent of household waste, which means targets for 2008 have been met. But looming on the horizon are
the targets recently announced by the environment secretary Richard Lochhead: recycling 40 per cent by 2010, 50 per cent by 2013, 60 per cent by 2020, at least 70 per cent by 2025 and eventually becoming a zero-waste society.
Industry leaders say this will mean everything now thought of as waste has to become a reusable, valuable resource, and this could have huge benefits to the Scottish economy.
The first step being taken by recycling groups is to encourage every member of the public to think twice before throwing anything in the bin.
Joanna Muse, principal policy officer for the national waste strategy at the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), said the key first step was to change the population's attitude to waste.
She said: "We shouldn't underestimate the challenge ahead. There's still a huge culture change we have got to get over. Unless we can make recycling as easy as it is to throw away, there will be this massive uphill struggle."
She believes reaching the target of 40 per cent by 2010 is the responsibility of everyone in Scotland.
But figures show recycling levels in some areas are lower than others. Glasgow recycled just 18 per cent of household waste last year, compared with Moray and Clackmannanshire, which came top at 43 per cent.
Colin Murchison, recycling expert at Glasgow Caledonian University, believes difficulties lie ahead in making facilities accessible to those in certain areas, such as Glasgow, where a large proportion of residents live in flats.
In these areas, kerbside recycling is not easy to introduce, but Mr Murchison insists all local authorities are rising to the challenge – partly because they face a fine if they don't meet the targets.
Another key challenge authorities must address is what happens to waste once it has been collected. Miss Muse said: "Waste is becoming a global market. We still send a lot of our plastics and waste to China when we could be developing markets locally, which I think is crazy.
"We send things like paper abroad and then we have to import it to make paper products. It just seems bizarre."
One success story is glass. Almost all the glass recycled in Scotland is transformed into whisky bottles and jam jars.
However, most of the paper put into recycling bins in Scotland is sent to one of three mills in England and some – about 20 per cent – is transported abroad to countries such as China.
Much of our plastic is still being sent to Asia to be recycled – where most of the plastic goods bought in this country are produced.
"To have our waste sailing around the ocean – there's a concern about the carbon impact," Mr Murchison said.
Miss Muse argues waste should be dealt with in the country where it is produced, rather than offloading it overseas where, with less control over how it is managed, it could end up in landfill.
Developing manufacturing markets in Scotland for recycled waste cuts down on the need to transport it around the world, which increases carbon emissions. This, she argues, could open up developing markets in Scotland.
Mr Murchison argues there is little to attract manufacturing companies to Scotland. "The trouble is that we are a small country and the amount of materials is still relatively small in terms of the overall volumes. That does make it difficult to find outlets for materials," he said.
However, he believes that if we increase the amount of waste we recycle, it could create enough raw materials to attract manufacturing plants to set up in Scotland.
"We (in the recycling industry] think it's OK to send it abroad while we build up capacity here. Nobody wants to build a plant for material that isn't here yet," he explained.
Attracting manufacturing plants could be a vibrant addition to the economy, he said. Recycling has created 4,500 jobs in the past few years.
Another challenge exists in reducing the amount of waste we produce in the first place, experts agree.
The onus lies not only with supermarkets to put pressure on manufacturers over excess packaging, but also on consumers to make sure they choose the right items.
Dan Barlow, acting director of the charity WWF Scotland, said excess packaging must be addressed. He said: "The bigger challenge is one of cutting down the amount of waste we produce in the first place.
"Some of this is in the hands of retailers. Packaging is a classic example. Individuals can also exercise quite a lot of influence by deciding whether to buy the packaged items or the loose items."
Increasing the amount of products that can be recycled in Scotland is another hurdle. Some local authorities are currently trialling schemes to recycle food waste – which breaks down in landfill to produce the damaging greenhouse gas methane.
Mr Lochhead has created a "zero waste think tank" to gather views from experts on how to turn Scotland into a zero waste society. He has also set up a zero waste fund, providing almost £300 million available to spend on waste management over the next three years.
He has urged householders to play a part by composting, rejecting junk mail, reusing carrier bags and cutting down on food waste.
He has said retailers need to reduce the use of plastic bags as well as encourage suppliers to make products that minimise waste and can be recycled.
His hope is for the amount of household waste going to landfill to be reduced from 56 per cent in 2010 to 5 per cent in 2025.
Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said hitting the targets was within our reach.
He said: "Achieving the 30 per cent target has shown that we can, with the right investment, achieve rapid and substantial increases in recycling."
But he stressed that even if the 70 per cent target is met, there is still far more to do.
He said: "This (target] is just for municipal waste. That's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of waste in Scotland.
"The waste generated by industry and business is far, far greater yet there are no firm targets for waste in these areas and that needs to be urgently addressed."
Kenny Boag, head of the waste unit at Sepa, is optimistic about reaching the recycling goals, but is aware of the challenges ahead. He said: "The latest figures released are positive news and Scotland has made great efforts to meet the recycling and compost targets over the past few years, but we can't slow down yet.
"The targets for the future are very challenging and if we are to meet them we will need to increase our efforts. We all need to do more to minimise waste growth in our local areas and then continue to maximise recycling to keep up the result we have seen to date."
Dr Nicki Souter, campaign manager for Waste Aware Scotland, points out there are now 183 recycling centres, as well as 2,752 recycling points, and about 80 per cent of residents have access to kerbside recycling. "Recycling is becoming our normal behaviour in Scotland," she said.
FACT BOXPERCENTAGE of municipal waste recycled/composted by local authority:
Aberdeen: 22.4
Aberdeenshire: 30.4
Angus: 34.1
Argyll & Bute: 34.4
Clackmannanshire: 42.9
Dumfries & Galloway: 29.9
Dundee: 32.4
East Ayrshire: 40.5
East Dunbartonshire: 33.2
East Lothian: 34.8
East Renfrewshire: 34.5
Edinburgh: 27.3
Eilean Siar: 24.7
Falkirk: 35.2
Fife: 37.5
Glasgow: 17.9
Highland: 30.1
Inverclyde: 21.3
Midlothian: 35.2
Moray: 42.9
North Ayrshire: 29.7
North Lanarkshire: 29.6
Orkney: 29
Perth & Kinross: 36.3
Renfrewshire: 28.8
Scottish Borders: 33.1
Shetland Islands: 18.6
South Ayrshire: 41.3
South Lanarkshire: 37.9
Stirling: 38.3
West Dunbartonshire: 33
West Lothian: 35.8
The full article contains 1401 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
