Scotland's Zero Waste Plan

Annex A
ZERO WASTE TARGETS AND DATA NEEDS

1. OVERVIEW

1.1 This Annex to the Zero Waste Plan Scotland provides detail on definitions, data, targets and measurement that will underpin delivery of Zero Waste Plan aims and objectives. Where gaps exist, this Annex identifies areas of policy development that will be taken forward in the period following publication of the Zero Waste Plan.

2. WASTE PREVENTION

2.1 Waste prevention is defined in the Waste Framework Directive ¹ as measures, taken before a substance, material or product has become waste, to reduce:

• the quantity of waste. This includes the re-use of products, the extension of the life span of products, reductions in packaging etc;
• the adverse impacts of waste on the environment and human health; and
• the content of harmful substances in materials and products.

2.2 The respondents to the draft Zero Waste Plan were overwhelmingly in favour of giving priority to waste prevention but were divided on (a) what targets, if any, to set; and (b) precisely what measures should be adopted to ensure that waste prevention activities receive priority attention in line with the waste hierarchy.

2.3 Examples of waste prevention measures include:

• The use of clean technologies that produce less wasteful and/or harmful products.
• The use of effective and meaningful indicators. For example, reductions in the amount of waste generated in Scotland can be measured and reported in terms of waste per household, waste per capita or waste per unit of GDP.
• The promotion of eco-design that has regard to the environmental performance of products throughout their whole life cycle.
• The use of awareness campaigns and the provision of information to businesses, encouraging use of best available techniques to prevent waste production.
• The use of voluntary agreements, consumer/producer panels or sectoral negotiations to encourage businesses or industrial sectors to set their own waste prevention plans.
• The promotion of recognised environmental management systems, including EMAS and ISO 14001.

2.4 The Scottish Government gives priority to waste prevention and will develop a Waste Prevention Programme in accordance with article 29 of the revised Waste Framework Directive by the end of 2010. In setting the Waste Prevention Programme the Scottish Government will review and develop different measures, and examine the usefulness of different indicators that can be used to monitor and assess the progress of measures that are adopted.

3. RE-USE

3.1 The Waste Framework Directive states that re-use is any operation by which products or components that are not waste are used again for the same purpose for which they were conceived. There are two important points to note:

1. re-use involves products or components that are not considered to be waste; and
2. the activity must involve re-use of products or components for the original purpose - for example, items advertised and made available for re-use on Freecycle http://www.uk.freecycle.org

Consequently, " re-use" activities would fall under the category of waste prevention.

3.2 Reuse can be encouraged by improving the durability of products and discouraging the purchase of single use disposable items where a re-useable alternative exists.

3.3 Items that would fall under the category of re-use would include books, household ornaments, crockery, toys and clothes handed into charity shops where the holder fully intends the items to be used in their current form and the goods or items meet the necessary quality standards laid down by the charity shop.

3.4 The direct re-use of products is not regulated under waste legislation as there has been no discard. Only when a product is discarded does it become waste and subject to waste regulatory control. Donations to charity shops do not count towards recycling targets but do contribute towards waste prevention where the items are re-used.

4. PREPARING FOR RE-USE

4.1 The revised Waste Framework Directive defines this activity as checking, cleaning or repairing products or components which have become waste so that they can be re-used for their original purpose without further processing.

4.2 When a product or residue is discarded it becomes waste and the requirements of waste legislation apply. Preparation for re-use activities tend to be regulated by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency ( SEPA) through use of light touch exemptions. However, once a waste has been checked, cleaned, repaired and otherwise made suitable for reuse for its original purpose, it ceases to be waste and no further waste controls are placed on it.

4.3 Examples of preparing products or components for reuse are frequently found in the community recycling sector, including repair and refurbishment of furniture and carpets; collection and mixing of waste paint; and bike salvage, repair and refurbishment centres.

4.4 In addition, some electrical equipment, furniture and clothing deposited at household waste recycling centres may be suitable for reuse once sorted, checked, cleaned and/or repaired. Local authorities already collect and report information on the quantities of such items which are "prepared for re-use" for their original intended purpose. The Scottish Government considers that items deposited at household waste recycling centres which are checked, cleaned and repaired and thus made ready for re-use will count towards recycling targets.

4.5 Although preparing-for re-use activities do not, strictly speaking, fall under the category of waste prevention, the Scottish Government considers that recognition needs to be given to the degree of priority that such activities have in the waste hierarchy. Accordingly, the Waste Prevention Programme will include details on the measures that Scottish Government intends to introduce to promote preparing for re-use activities, including, where appropriate, the establishment and support of re-use and repair networks. In addition, consideration will be given within the Waste Prevention Programme as to how preparing for re-use activities might contribute towards Zero Waste Plan recycling targets.

5. RECYCLING AND COMPOSTING

5.1 Article 3 of the revised Waste Framework Directive defines Recycling as any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products, materials or substances, whether for the original or other purposes. It includes the reprocessing of organic material but does not include energy recovery and the reprocessing into materials that are to be used as fuels, or for backfilling operations. The same definition applies within the context of the Zero Waste Plan.

5.2 Article 11(1) of the revised Waste Framework Directive requires Member States to take measures that promote high quality recycling. In order to further this aim the Scottish Government intends to:

• Use a carbon metric to sit alongside the use of tonnage as a performance measure and target. This will encourage greater levels of recycling of materials that have the greatest environmental impact. Details on how the Scottish Government intends to progress with development of the carbon metric and how it will be used can be found at section 11 of this Annex.
• Introduce a general mandatory requirement for commercial and industrial waste producers to take steps to segregate/pre-sort and for waste collectors to separately collect food waste and recyclable waste such as paper, cardboard, metal, plastics and glass. The Scottish Government will consult separately on any new measures introduced to bring about this change. This is further explained in Annex C of the Zero Waste Plan.
• Take a whole system approach and define good practice for waste and resource collection systems to optimise capture of recylclates and ensure that the quality of materials is not compromised.
• Explore how legislative controls and/or other mechanisms might be used to set minimum standards of treatment where mixed waste treatment processes are used and how these minimum standards might be applied to recycling performance.

Scope of Scotland's Zero Waste Plan Recycling and Composting Targets:

5.3 When the announcement on Zero Waste was made to Parliament on 24 January 2008, the recycling and composting targets were applied to municipal waste and this was defined at the time as waste from households and commerce collected by or on behalf of local authorities. This was reflected in the consultation draft of the Zero Waste Plan.

5.4 As there has been a shift in focus under Zero Waste Policy, to dealing with all wastes and not just those managed by local authorities, the Scottish Government has now reviewed its position and has decided that it would be more appropriate to set recycling targets against waste collected from households. Separate targets will be developed in due course for commercial and industrial waste streams.

5.5 As a consequence, the domestic 40, 50, 60 and 70% Zero Waste recycling, composting and preparing for re-use, targets will now apply to waste collected from households rather than municipal waste collected by local authorities.

5.6 Article 11(2) of the Waste Framework Directive requires Member States to take the necessary measures to achieve a target of 50% by weight by 2020 of the preparing for re-use and the recycling of waste materials such as paper, metal, plastic and glass from households and possibly from other origins where the waste materials are similar. Whilst the measurement methodology for this target has yet to be agreed both at the UK level, and between the UK and the Commission, the achievement of 60% recycling of waste from households by 2020, coupled with the introduction of landfill bans (see Annex C), is expected to provide a sufficient degree of comfort that the 50% revised Waste Framework Directive target will be met.

5.7 Separate Zero Waste recycling and composting targets will be developed for industrial and commercial waste streams (targeting specific sectors where appropriate) once improvements in commercial and industrial waste data have been secured through forthcoming data collection regulations. However, in the meantime, the Scottish Government will aspire to achieve an overall recycling and composting level of 70% and 5% (maximum) landfill for the total Scottish waste arisings by 2025.

5.8 Article 11(2)(b) requires Member States to achieve 70% recycling and recovery by weight of non-hazardous construction and demolition waste excluding naturally occurring material. This will include backfilling operations using waste to substitute other materials. The Scottish Government will aim to secure 70% recycling of construction and demolition waste by 2020 to contribute to achievement of the UK target.

What is included in the measurement of the recycling target?

5.9 Where materials are collected from kerbside; recycling centres or points; or extracted through sorting, and processed into new products or materials, the weight of materials consigned to end-use reprocessor markets, appropriately adjusted to take account of any reject material, will count towards recycling performance.

5.10 Where bio-wastes (food and green waste) are collected and treated in open windrow, In-Vessel Composters ( IVC) or Anaerobic Digestion ( AD) facilities the inputs to treatment processes will continue to count towards recycling and composting targets where PAS 100 compost or as appropriate PAS 110 digestate is produced and subsequently used.

5.11 The position on bio-waste counting towards recycling is supported by the European Commission in its Green Paper on the management of Biowaste in the EU. The Green Paper states: "Biological treatment (including composting and anaerobic digestion) may be classified as recycling when compost (or digestate) is used on land or for the production of growing media.

5.12 Where PAS 100 or PAS 110 material is produced, the process input tonnage will be counted towards recycling/composting target performance with appropriate adjustments being made to deduct the input equivalent weight from any reject materials that are consigned to landfill or incineration.

5.13 However, where non- PAS 100/110 material is produced and used under registered exemption (irrespective of whether it is sourced from treatment of biowaste material or MBT/ MHT outputs) it is unlikely that the material will be classified as recycling in future. This is due to the material still being classified as a waste. This represents a change in approach informed from recent ECJ judgements and ongoing discussion at the UK and EU level concerning the waste hierarchy and what the revised Waste Framework Directive is trying to achieve.

5.14 For a different reason, a similar position is likely to be adopted in moving forward in relation to use of incinerator bottom ash and use of aggregate replacement material. While utilisation of these materials may constitute "recovery" it is unlikely that they will be considered "recycling".

5.15 In addition, a range of other processes that result in the recycling of commercial and industrial waste need to be defined.

5.16 Whilst there is scope for member states to adopt their own targets, standards and measurement methodologies the question arises as to whether Scotland should aim to establish a degree of consistency in measuring progress between EU and domestic targets. In order to inform the best approach Scottish Government will undertake a review of how performance against domestic targets should be undertaken and will produce guidance by the end of 2010. This will be supplemented by guidance to be produced by SEPA on how local authorities record and report upon recycling/composting performance.

6. RECOVERY TARGETS

6.1 In light of the change in approach and emphasis towards dealing with all wastes, and not just those wastes managed by local authorities, the Scottish Government intends to replace the 25% cap on local authority collected municipal waste treated in energy-from-waste plants.

6.2 The new approach will involve the introduction of a package of measures including:

• Landfill bans on mixed unsorted waste;
• Mandatory requirements being introduced to pre-sort recyclable materials;
• Setting a limit on the biodegradable content of waste that can be landfilled; and
• Restriction being placed on what can be incinerated.

6.3 The Scottish Government will consult separately on any new legislation it intends to introduce to give effect to the above noted measures. Annex C to the Zero Waste Plan provides more detail on this. In the interim period, the 25% cap on local authority collected municipal waste sent to energy-from-waste plants will continue to apply and local authorities should plan accordingly. Interim guidance on the 25% cap can be found at www.scotland.gov.uk/zerowasteplan.

7. LANDFILL DIVERSION TARGETS

7.1 Following discussion between the UK Government and the Commission concerning the scope of the UK definition of municipal waste and measurement of compliance against the Landfill Directive, agreement was reached to revise the 1995 baseline and targets. The revised baseline and targets for Scotland are shown in table 1.1 and it can be seen from this that the 2013 target has been met ahead of time but by 2020 Scotland needs to reduce the landfilling of biodegradable municipal waste to 1.26 million tonnes. This requires the diversion of an additional 530,000 tonnes of biodegradable municipal waste.

Table 1.1

	1995 Baseline	2008	2010	2013	2020
Landfill Target Reduction	100%		75%	50%	35%
Previous BMW Baseline (1995) and Targets	1.76		1.32	0.88	0.62
BMW landfill performance - previous definition		1.30
Additional diversion required to meet target			0	0.42	0.68
Revised 1995 Baseline and Targets	3.60		2.70	1.80	1.26
BMW landfill performance - new definition		1.79
Additional diversion required to meet target.			0	0	0.53

BMW: Biodegradable Municipal Waste
Figures are in millions of tonnes

7.2 The measurement of Biodegradable Municipal Waste will include European Waste Catalogue ( EWC) Chapter 20 wastes; and some EWC Chapter 15 and 19 wastes (insofar as they are similar in nature and composition to waste from households). SEPA will produce a methodology on the measurement of compliance against Landfill Directive targets by end of 2010.

7.3 A summary of the Zero Waste Plan targets encompassing both domestic and EU targets is provided at section 13 of this Annex for ease of reference.

8. DATA AND REPORTING

8.1 Data is required for a number of reasons, including:

• To fulfil reporting requirements under the EU Waste Statistics Regulation.
• To monitor and report on progress towards meeting EU Landfill Directive targets on biodegradable municipal waste landfill diversion.
• To monitor and report on progress towards meeting the revised Waste Framework Directive ( WFD), Article 11 targets, including the 2020 target to recycle 70% of construction and demolition waste.
• To monitor and report on the contribution all wastes can make in meeting Climate Change and Renewable Energy targets.
• To monitor progress towards Zero Waste plan recycling and composting targets.
• To help local authorities and businesses obtain reliable information on waste materials which could be prevented, reused, recycled or recovered.
• To inform future policy development designed to further reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill and increase resource utilisation.
• To inform effective planning for provision of waste treatment infrastructure and assist in building investor confidence.

8.2 Local authority progress towards the recycling/composting and other targets will continue to be recorded by SEPA using the WasteDataFlow system http://www.wastedataflow.org/ and performance reports will be produced on a quarterly and annual basis and be available at http://www.sepa.org.uk/waste/waste_data/municipal_waste.aspx .

8.3 Waste data and trends (including commercial and industrial waste data) will be produced by SEPA and published in the form of Waste Data Digests http://www.sepa.org.uk/waste/waste_data/waste_data_digest.aspx together with associated key fact sheets, summaries and trends.

8.4 In moving forward with implementation of the Zero Waste Plan SEPA will focus attention, in particular, on improving the quality of commercial and industrial data. This will include making use of Regulations to be made under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act by October 2010, establishing a mandatory requirement for businesses receiving waste data requests from SEPA to complete them. This will be exercised in line with better regulation principles. However, in the short term Scottish Government will liaise with SEPA and the waste management industry to scope out improvements that could be secured using voluntary means.

8.5 SEPA will produce a revised Waste Data Strategy outlining the steps and timescales for improving commercial and industrial waste data by the end of 2010.

9. WASTE DATA REQUIREMENTS

9.1 In discussions with SEPA, the Scottish Government has identified the need to collect robust data on:

• Waste from Households;
• Commercial and Industrial Waste (including that collected by local authorities, but excluding construction and demolition waste); and
• Construction and Demolition Waste.

9.2 This will align data with the sources of waste that will be targeted by policies, campaigns, targets, landfill restrictions and other interventions designed to optimise resource utilisation in line with Zero Waste Plan aims and objectives. However, in order to manage the transition between old and new definitions for municipal waste SEPA will continue, in the short-term, to monitor and report "Municipal Solid Waste" recycling and "Biodegradable Municipal Waste" diversion from landfill as previously defined i.e. municipal waste managed by or on behalf of local authorities.

9.3 Future data for all waste streams shall be collected and published quarterly and/or as appropriate annually. Audits will be carried out on waste producers, local authorities and/or waste management facilities as necessary.

9.4 In the medium to long-term SEPA will move towards collecting and publishing information on the individual material streams (e.g. paper, glass) in Scottish waste. This data will be required to enable progress against Zero Waste Plan aims and objectives to be monitored as well as ensuring that revised Waste Framework Directive requirements are fulfilled.

9.5 Through improvements in the data collected, SEPA will aim to produce data that provides a better understanding of the flow of materials through the waste management system. This will assist with planning for future waste infrastructure needs.

9.6 SEPA will also produce, publish and maintain waste infrastructure maps and supporting local waste data facts to assist with waste planning and to help build investor confidence. These will be available at http://www.sepa.org.uk/waste/waste_infrastructure_maps.aspx

9.7 In addition, SEPA will, on behalf of Scottish Government, prepare Scotland's contribution to UK reporting on meeting the targets in accordance with Article 37 of the Waste Framework Directive as well as producing waste data returns to the Commission under the EU Waste Statistics Regulation.

9.8 A summary of the Scottish Government's data needs is provided at section 12.

10. COMPOSITIONAL ANALYSIS

10.1 Information on the composition of waste can be used by both national and local governments and by the waste management industry to inform waste management policy and practice.

10.2 During 2008-09 the Scottish Government arranged for WRAP (now Zero Waste Scotland) to undertake a macro level study of the composition of local authority collected municipal waste in Scotland. The final report which was published in April 2010 can be found at: http://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/document.rm?id=8938. As progress is made on the journey towards Zero Waste the Scottish Government will arrange for further compositional analyses to be undertaken on a periodic basis.

10.3 It is important to note that the Scotland level compositional analysis of municipal waste collected by local authorities does not circumvent the need for individual authorities to undertake analysis to meet local information needs. Local authorities have a need to understand the impact of waste collection operational practice and other interventions on landfill diversion and recycling performance and this necessitates periodic bespoke compositional analysis to be undertaken to provide the necessary management information. Details of a standardised methodology for undertaking compositional analysis can be found at http://www.sepa.org.uk/waste/waste_publications/idoc.ashx?docid=7d7026d7-6715-4c95-bac2-128bada54a02&version=-1.

10.4 In moving forward on the journey towards Zero Waste the Scottish Government and its delivery partners will take a more holistic approach and focus attention on all wastes - not just those wastes managed by local authorities. In order to do so, better data and information on commercial and industrial waste and construction and demolition waste streams will be required, including information on the composition of those wastes.

10.5 Scottish Government will lay regulations under the Climate Change Act waste provisions which will enable SEPA to require waste producers, waste management companies and other waste holders to provide information on the wastes that they generate, hold or manage. In addition to this, the Scottish Government will consider along with its Zero Waste Scotland Delivery Programme partner how information obtained by SEPA on commercial and industrial waste can be supplemented by compositional analysis.

11. CARBON METRIC

11.1 The Zero Waste consultation exercise highlighted a general view that using waste tonnage as a basis for measuring recycling does not always promote waste prevention, reduction and re-use and does not focus recycling towards the waste material with greatest environmental impact. At the same time there are clear reasons to maintain the use of weight as a measure and target as it is universally understood and forms the basis for meeting EU waste directive requirements. The use of any new metric needs to be consistent with the Scottish Government's goal of valuing resource not waste, and prioritise the prevention, reuse and recycling of waste with the greatest environmental impact.

11.2 Developing a metric that truly reflects the environmental value or impact of recycling is challenging, as many variables need to be considered. During the consultation to the Zero Waste Plan some respondents suggested a new metric could be developed that uses greenhouse gas ( GHG; CO ₂ equivalent) emissions as a basis, linking in to the need to address climate change as a priority.

11.3 With the principles above in mind, the Scottish Government is developing a resource displacement carbon metric. Materials recycled in Scotland replace, in manufacturing, the use of materials from primary production processes that result in the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere elsewhere in the world. The new metric will recognise that the production of different primary materials produce different quantities of such emissions and will value recyclate accordingly. For example, a tonne of aluminium collected from the waste stream in Scotland will displace the need for primary production of aluminium in another part of the world.

11.4 Some recyclate can replace different materials, depending on the quality of the recyclate collected. The carbon metric will recognise that the different primary materials being replaced may have different environmental impacts, for example the production of virgin glass leads to more emissions than the production of the same weight of aggregate, therefore the metric will value the closed-loop recycling of glass more highly that the use of mixed glass cullet as an aggregate replacement, as the benefit of closed-loop recycling of glass is greater.

11.5 In order to calculate the new metric, the tonnage of each material arising in the waste stream, and the tonnage of each material recycled, will be weighted before the recycling percentage is calculated. Weightings will be derived from the greenhouse gas emissions that occur during the production of the virgin material that a tonne of recyclate would replace. Aluminium, whose production is the most carbon-intensive, has been allocated a weighting of 100, with other material weightings calculated relative to aluminium, using greenhouse gas emission figures. The greenhouse gas emission figures and the derived weightings can be seen in table 1. A key observation is that manufactured materials have a greater weighting, in particular, metals, glass, plastics and paper.

Table 1: Weighting Factors for the Carbon Metric²

Material	GHG Emissions from Virgin Material attributed to Recyclate (kg CO 2e per tonne recyclate)	Weighting Factor (Max = 100)	Comments
Aluminium (cans and foil)	9132	100.0
Mixed Cans	5700	62.4
Ferrous Metals (inc steel cans)	4239	46.4
Metals recovered from incineration residue	3740	41.0
Other Scrap Metal	3700	40.5
Mixed Plastics	1340	14.7	Values for separated plastics will be developed
Paper	1080	11.8
Books	1080	11.8
Mixed Paper and Card	1050	11.5
Card	980	10.7
Sorted Glass	838	9.2	To closed loop recycling
Mixed Glass	36	0.4	To replace aggregate unless evidence is available otherwise
Wood	138	1.5
Food Waste (to AD)	157	1.7
Food Waste (composted)	24	0.3
Garden Waste (to AD)	117	1.3
Garden Waste (composted)	24	0.3
Mixed Food and Garden Waste (to AD)	Not yet available	1.3	Currently as garden waste
Mixed Food and Garden Waste (composted)	Not yet available	0.3	Currently as separate food and garden waste
Aggregate (Rubble)	2.3	0.03
Incineration residue (ash)	2.6	0.03
Textiles and Footwear	Not yet available
Furniture	Not yet available
Plasterboard	Not yet available
Soil	Not yet available
WEEE	Not yet available
Other Recyclable Materials e.g. mattresses, oils, batteries	0	0	It is not currently possible to quantify the presence of certain materials that arise in small quantities in the waste stream
Other Non-Recyclable Materials	0	0	As these materials are not recyclable their weighting is 0

11.6 The carbon-weighted recycling percentage will be calculated, using the weighting factors in table 1, in the following manner:

1. The tonnage of each material arising in the waste stream will be calculated using total waste arisings and waste composition data ³;

2. The tonnage of each material arising is weighted by multiplying the tonnage by the largest weighting factor for that material (e.g. closed- loop recycling for glass or anaerobic digestion for food and garden wastes);

3. The tonnage of each material recycled is weighted by multiplying the tonnage recycled by the weighting factor appropriate to the recycling route for that material (e.g. mixed glass is weighted using the weighting where it replaces aggregate, while sorted glass is weighted for closed loop-recycling;

4. The final recycling figure is calculated as the sum of the weighted recycling figures divided by the sum of the weighted arisings figures, expressed as a percentage.

Table 2 below shows, as an example, the carbon-weighted metric applied to Scotland's municipal waste ⁴ (2008/09) and compares this with the traditional tonnage-based recycling metric.

11.7 Figure 1 presents a graph of the data in table 2, summarised by broad material classes, and compares the carbon-weighted and tonnage-based metrics. "Recycling efficiency" indicates the percentage of each material that was recycled in Scotland in 2008/09. "Recycling potential" shows the potential contribution of each material to theoretical overall recycling performance achieved if the all materials that could be recycled were recycled with 100% efficiency ⁵ and the effect of the weighting on the contribution of the key material groups to recycling potential. "Recycling performance 2008/09" shows the contribution of each material to Scottish recycling in 2008, using both the standard tonnage-based metric ⁶ and the carbon weighted metric.

Figure 1: Comparing Recycling Performance According to the Carbon-Weighted and Tonnage-Based Metrics

11.8 Scottish recycling performance in 2008/09 according to the tonnage-based metric in 2008/09 was 33%, but using a carbon-metric it was 27%. If, however, effort was prioritised toward the recycling of materials with the greatest benefits a different consequence of using the carbon-weighted metric can be seen. If even 90% of material in each of the three groups with the greatest benefit are recycled (that is the largest weighting factors: paper and card, metals and plastic) the recycling percentage achieved would be 87% using the carbon-metric, but require the collection of only 31% of total waste arisings by tonnage.

11.9 This metric is still under development and will need further work. The Scottish Government will arrange for a task and finish group comprising experts and practitioners to take forward development of the carbon metric.

11.10 After this development period Scottish Government would aim to report recycling performance in both weight and carbon metric terms. We would then look at what actions could be taken to increase performance against this metric. The data on the materials that make up Commercial and Industrial waste are not sufficiently developed to apply this metric to Commercial and Industrial wastes immediately, but it is the intention of the Scottish Government that the metric will be used for all Scottish waste streams by 2025.

Table 2: Comparison of Recycling Performance According to the Carbon-Weighted and Tonnage-Based Metrics

Material Stream	Municipal Waste Arisings (thousand tonnes)	Municipal Waste Recycled or Composted (thousand tonnes)	Current Recycling Efficiency (%)	Recycling Potential 7(%)		Recycling in 2008/09 (%)
				Tonnage	Carbon-weighted	Tonnage 8	Carbon-weighted
Paper	528	128		16.1	26.7	3.9	6.5
Mixed Paper and Card	#	103		#	#	3.1	5.1
Books	#	1		#	#	0.0	0.0
Card	170	28		5.2	7.8	0.9	1.3
Paper and Card (Total)	698	260	37.2	21.2	34.5	7.9	12.9
Ferrous (steel) Cans	#	5		#	#	0.1	0.9
Other Scrap Metal	69	33		2.1	12.0	1.0	5.6
Mixed Cans	63	6		1.9	16.9	0.2	1.6
Incineration ash (metal)	9	3		9	9	0.1	0.5
Non-ferrous (aluminium) cans	#	1		#	#	0.0	0.5
Metals (Total)	132	47	35.7	4.0	28.9	1.4	9.2
Plastics	310	17	5.5	9.4	19.6	0.5	1.1
Sorted Glass	248	66		7.5	9.8	2.0	2.6
Mixed Glass	#	36		#	#	1.1	0.1
Glass (Total)	248	102	41.2	7.5	9.8	3.1	2.7
Garden Waste ( AD)	431	None		13.1	2.4	None	None
Garden Waste (composted)	Not best treatment method	322		Not best treatment method	Not best treatment method	9.8	0.4
Food Waste ( AD)	581	None		17.7	4.2	None	None
Food Waste (composted)	Not best treatment method	Not reported separately until 2009/10		Not best treatment method	Not best treatment method	Not reported separately until 2009/10	Not reported separately until 2009/10
Mixed food and garden waste ( AD)	#	None		#	#	None	None
Mixed food and garden waste (composted)	#	63		#	#	1.9	0.1
Food and Garden Waste (Total)	1,012	386	38.1	30.8	6.6	11.7	0.5
Wood	91	68	74.9	2.8	0.6	2.1	0.4
Aggregate (rubble)	138	97	70.6	4.2	0.0	3.0	0.0
Incineration residue (ash)	9	11	N/A	9	9	0.3	0.0
Other Materials 10	659	111	N/A	20.1	0.0	3.4	0.0
Total Waste / Overall Percentage recycled	3,288	1,099	N/A	79.9	100.0	33.4	26.8

12. SUMMARY OF DATA REQUIREMENTS

12.1 Scottish Government's specific data requirements are summarised in the table below:

Total Scottish waste arisings.

Waste from households managed by, or on behalf of, Scottish local authorities. Waste from households arising, split by waste management method and local authority. Waste from household arisings, split by local authority, expressed in kg/capita/year.

Scottish waste arisings and waste management method, split by waste from households; commercial and industrial; and construction and demolition.

Scottish construction and demolition waste arisings, split by management method.

Scottish recycling and composting, split by waste from households; commercial and industrial (excluding construction and demolition); and construction and demolition.

Household recycling and composting rates, split by local authority - measured both in terms of tonnage and carbon.

Scottish waste incineration, split by waste from households; commercial and industrial; and construction and demolition (inputs to incinerators).

Scottish waste landfilled, split by waste from households; commercial and industrial; and construction and demolition.

Biodegradable municipal waste (new definition) landfilled in Scotland, split by waste from households and commercial and industrial.

Special waste produced in Scotland.

Waste imports and exports, split by management method.

Scottish packaging waste arisings.

Household recycling collection numbers and methods, split by local authority.

12.2 Data on the management of Scottish waste has been produced by SEPA to support the Zero Waste Plan. This has been published on the SEPA website at http://www.sepa.org.uk/waste/waste_data/zero_waste_plan_data.aspx

13. SUMMARY TARGETS

13.1 A summary of the Zero Waste Plan targets is provided in the table below:

Target/Cap	Year	Derivation
40% recycling/composting and preparing for re-use of waste from households. 11	2010	Scottish Government target.
No more than 2.7 million tonnes of biodegradable municipal waste to be sent to landfill. 12	2010	Article 5(2) of the EU Landfill Directive. 13
50% recycling/composting and preparing for re-use of waste from households 10	2013	Scottish Government target.
The preparing for re-use and the recycling of 50% by weight of waste materials such as paper, metal, plastic and glass from household waste and similar.	2020	Article 11(2)a of the EU Waste Framework Directive. 5
No more than 1.8 million tonnes of biodegradable municipal waste to be sent to landfill. 2	2013	Article 5(2) of the EU Landfill Directive. 3
60% recycling/composting and preparing for re-use of waste from households. 10	2020	Scottish Government target.
No more than 1.26 million tonnes of biodegradable municipal waste to be sent to landfill. 2	2020	Article 5(2) of the EU Landfill Directive. 3
70% recycling and preparing for re-use of construction and demolition waste. 10	2020	Article 11(2)(b) of the revised EU Waste Framework Directive. 14
No more than 5% of all waste to go to landfill.	2025	Scottish Government target
70% recycling/composting and preparing for re-use of all waste by 2025.	2025	Scottish Government target.

Footnotes

1. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:312:0003:0003:EN:PDF
2. The greenhouse gas emissions figures are derived from draft research being carried out by Zero Waste Scotland, and may be subject to change. Final figures and weightings will be published by the Scottish Government at the end of the development phase of the metric.
3. For municipal waste the material composition of the waste stream will be from the WRAP report "The Composition of Municipal Waste in Scotland" http://www.zerowastescotland.org.uk/msw_scotland.html unless a local report is available and its methodology accepted by SEPA.
4. This is municipal waste as previously defined, that is municipal waste managed by, or on behalf of, local authorities.
5. As recycling potential is calculated on the basis of arisings it assumes recycling is through the route with the maximum benefit (e.g. closed-loop recycling or anaerobic digestion) and that incineration does not occur.
6. Use of material specific data means that the overall recycling percentage varies from the recycling percentage published by SEPA.
7. This is the theoretical maximum achievable if 100% of all recyclable materials are recycled or composted by the route with the maximum benefit.
8. Use of material specific data means that the overall recycling percentage varies from the recycling percentage published by SEPA.
   # Certain sub-categories for which recycling data is collected by SEPA were not analysed separately in the municipal waste composition study, or are not applicable to the study of waste composition (most mixed categories, as the waste was sorted for the composition analysis, and incineration residues), and are not therefore applicable to waste arisings. These categories are books (included as paper), mixed paper and card (sorted), ferrous and non-ferrous cans (included as mixed cans), mixed glass (sorted) and mixed food and garden waste (sorted). as these wastes were sorted for the analysis of municipal waste composition.
9. There are no incineration residues in arisings, as no incineration has occurred at this point. As recycling potential is calculated on the basis of arisings incineration residues are not applicable, and are unlikely to represent the recycling route with the greatest benefit.
10. For the purpose of the carbon-weighted metric "other materials" are considered non-recyclable, although in reality some may be e.g. mattresses, oils, batteries. These recyclable materials cannot be included in carbon-weighted metric as their presence in municipal waste has not been adequately quantified. This position may be revised if additional data becomes available. Their contribution to current recycling performance according to the tonnage metric is bordered by a dotted line in figure 1. A similar section, bordered by a dotted line, is shown for recycling potential, however not all of the materials in this category are potentially recyclable, therefore the maximum recycling rate, according to the tonnage-based metric, would never reach 100%.
11. Target and measurement expressed in terms of both tonnage and, from 2013, using the carbon-weighted metric.
12. Revised target derived from re-based 1995 BMW landfill figure of 3.6 million tonnes.
13. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31999L0031:EN:NOT . Target performance measured as landfilling of EWC Chapter 15 (packaging ; selected categories that are similar in composition to household waste); Chapter 19 (selected categories that are similar in composition to household waste); and Chapter 20, all relative to a 1995 baseline.
14. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:312:0003:0003:EN:PDF

Scottish Government

June 2010