Decarbonisation of residual waste infrastructure: report

Recommendations

The Recommendations set out below should be considered in the context of the discussion in this Report and the First. Numbering continues from the First Report.

Recommendation 13: The Scottish Government should immediately strengthen existing requirements for pre-treatment and work with local authorities and industry to apply them to all existing and future incineration facilities to remove as much recyclable material as feasible, with a particular focus on plastics. (Confirmed.)

Recommendation 14: The Scottish Government and local authorities should continue to work with industry to deploy combined heat and power for as many existing incineration facilities as possible (Confirmed.)

Recommendation 15: The Scottish Government should consider how biogenic carbon is included in future resource and waste management sector modelling and how this influences decision making.

Recommendation 16: The Scottish Government should support inclusion of incineration (with or without energy recovery) in the UK Emissions Trading Scheme as one important decarbonisation policy tool.

Recommendation 17: The Scottish Government and SEPA should put in place by 2025 robust arrangements to stop fossil-based plastic from being incinerated in Scotland from the beginning of 2030, except where required for hazardous waste disposal.

Recommendation 18: In implementing the recommendations of the Review, the Scottish Government should do what is within its powers to ensure that there is no increase (and ideally a significant decrease) in the export of plastic waste from Scotland.

Recommendation 19: The Scottish Government should implement Recommendation 17 through policies to reduce plastic production and use, promote source segregation of all plastic wastes, and implement advanced sorting of residual waste.

Recommendation 20: In considering which plants with planning permission to construct, financers, developers and planning authorities should prioritise those plants where deployment of currently available CCUS technology is most feasible.

Recommendation 21: The Scottish Government should consider support for emerging carbon capture and use technologies that could overcome challenges to deployment for facilities already in operation, or required for more remote facilities.

Recommendation 22: The Scottish Government and landfill owners and operators should ensure maximum capture of landfill gas for open and closed landfill sites, and develop new approaches to do this as methane levels decrease.

Recommendation 23: The Scottish Government should consult with landfill owners and operators to address the consequences of the withdrawal of current landfill gas management financial incentives after 2037.