A moratorium on new waste-to-energy incinerators should be introduced immediately in Scotland, a review has concluded.

Ministers ordered the report amid growing concern that the industry was "locking in" waste by creating a demand at incinerator sites.

Six sites currently operate in Scotland with a further 10 going through the planning process.

The Scottish government welcomed the report and will respond fully in June.

The growth in incineration comes ahead of a ban from 2025 on sending residual waste to landfill.

The report, called Stop, Sort, Burn, Bury? follows an independent review by Dr Colin Church, CEO of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

It made 14 recommendations, including that the Scottish government should seek to rapidly reduce the amount of recyclable materials going to landfill or incineration.

Achievable targets

The report predicts there will be a "capacity gap" by the time the landfill ban comes into force but says that gap could be closed by achieving Scotland's waste and recycling targets.

Extracted from BBC News, Scotland, read more here

Posted in Opinion

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