Decarbonisation of residual waste infrastructure: Scottish Government response

1. Introduction

1. The Waste Management sector has made strides in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In 2020, the Waste Management sector accounted for 1.4 MtCO2e of greenhouse gas emissions in Scotland (3.4% of the Scottish total of 40 MtCO2e), largely from landfill (1.0 MtCO2e). This represents a 77% reduction since 1990, which has largely been achieved through reductions in household and similar waste, the progressive introduction of methane capture and oxidation systems within landfill management, and diversion of waste away from landfill through increased recycling and the diversion of residual waste to incineration^[1].

2. Scotland is moving away from our current 'take, make, and dispose' model of the economy towards a circular economy, where we keep materials in use. Moving toward a circular economy will support emissions reductions but while we make this transition, we need to ensure that how we manage our residual ('black bag') waste^[2] supports our emissions reduction targets and minimises any other environmental impact.

3. That is why the Scottish Government commissioned a review of the role of incineration in the waste hierarchy in Scotland (the Review). We set out this commitment in our Programme for Government^[3], reaffirming it in the Bute House Agreement^[4], and appointed Dr Church in November 2021 as Independent Chair to oversee the Review.

4. Dr Church's First Report^[5] of the Review was published in May 2021 and set out 12 full recommendations. This prioritised analysis of national capacity requirements, considered the societal impacts of residual waste treatment, including health and community impacts and considered how emissions from existing infrastructure could be reduced and residual heat may be reused.

5. We published our response to the First Report in June 2022, accepting all of the full recommendations^[6].

6. The First Report also made two provisional recommendations, pending the outcome of additional work. The First Report prioritised a timely analysis of capacity to inform planning and investment decisions, which meant there was insufficient time to fully consider options to decarbonise existing residual waste infrastructure. The Review, therefore, commissioned additional work to consider options to decarbonise Scotland's residual waste infrastructure.

7. At the invitation of the Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity, Dr Church stayed on as independent chair to oversee this further work and delivered his Second Report to the Scottish Government in December 2021. Dr Church's Second Report^[7] (the Report) builds on the first and considers options to decarbonise the Residual Waste Infrastructure in Scotland by addressing four questions:

• What does the current carbon impact of disposal of waste look like?
• What are the possible options to decarbonise residual waste infrastructure?
• What are the most effective and feasible options to improve existing waste management infrastructure in terms of carbon performance?
• What combination of options is the most feasible for Scotland?

8. To answer these questions, Dr Church's team considered stakeholder feedback gathered through the first report's Call for Evidence, which is summarised in the evidence document^[8] published alongside the First Report; two additional stakeholder events; and additional contributions from stakeholders. The review also received a report from Eunomia^[9], which set out to assess the effectiveness of options to decarbonise existing waste infrastructure. The additional contributions and the Eunomia report were published alongside the Review's Second Report.

9. The scope of the Second Report was residual waste infrastructure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (primarily carbon dioxide from incinerators and methane from landfill), for the treatment of household, and some commercial and industrial wastes, with a focus on waste incineration infrastructure (including that in construction and likely to be developed).

10. Dr Church delivered his second and final report⁷ to Ministers on 16 December 2022 and we published this on 3 February 2023.