The Scottish government has issued a moratorium on waste incineration. In a mid-June statement, Circular Economy Minister Lorna Slater said that the government had accepted all twelve recommendations from an independent review of waste incineration released last month, among them that no further planning permission for incineration facilities be granted. A similar moratorium is already in place in Wales.
Ms Slater said, "By putting in place sensible measures to limit and gradually reduce Scotland’s incineration capacity, we can make sure we can manage our waste today, while ensuring our future waste infrastructure aligns with our climate targets."
In accordance with the Scottish government's decision to accept the recommendations of the review, the country's national planning policy would now be revised and presented to the Scottish Parliament later this year for approval. In the meantime, a notification direction will remain in place, requiring local authorities to alert Scottish ministers of new planning applications that involve incineration facilities, the government explained. Further analysis of options to decarbonise existing residual waste infrastructure is underway and the results of that work are expected out before the end of the year....
