| The Scottish Government's high-profile
plan to establish the country as the world's first 'zero
waste society' has moved a step forward with the launch
of a new £5m capital grant programme design to stimulate the
development of plastics recycling facilities.
Scotland has already met its EU target of sending no more
than 1.32 million tonnes of biodegradable municipal waste
to landfill by 2010. However, it is facing a series of daunting
targets to ensure that half of all municipal waste is recycled
or composted by 2013 and that 60 per cent is diverted from
landfill by 2020.
As with the rest of the UK, the country is also suffering
from a shortage of plastic recycling facilities. An estimated
200,000 tonnes of plastic waste - which includes plastic bottles
and packaging - are currently generated by Scottish households,
but only about 15,000 tonnes of that is currently collected
for recycling.
The aim of the new funding, which comes under the auspices
of the Zero
Waste Scotland initiative, is to divert an additional
20,000 tonnes from landfill each year so that it can be used
as raw material for manufacturing new products.
Richard Lochhead, cabinet secretary for Rural Affairs and
the Environment, said there was demand for high-quality recycled
plastics in the country and that it made sense in both environmental
and economic terms to meet that demand from Scotland's own
waste stream.
"The potential spin-offs are exciting," he said. "If we sort
and recycle the plastics here, we can provide the raw materials
for a new generation of manufacturing businesses and create
jobs at the same time."
There is growing demand for recycled plastics globally, with
sportswear giant Nike
announcing that all its new shirts for teams and fans
at this year's World Cup will be made from material made from
old plastic bottles.
The Scottish government also hopes that the creation of Scottish
plastics recycling and reprocessing facilities will also encourage
Scottish households to recycle more of their waste.
The Zero Waste Scotland Plastics Capital Grant Programme
will close at 1.30pm on 30 August this year. It will provide
up to 30 per cent of eligible capital expenditure for a new
facility or facilities.
A seminar advising interested parties how to apply for the
grants will be held in Stirling on 20 April.
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