By Bill Heaney
Scottish Liberal Democrat climate emergency spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP has urged Ministers to come clean following reports that 100 truckloads of waste will be moved each day to England once a landfill ban comes into effect at the end of the year.
Since 2019, Mr McArthur has repeatedly pressed the Scottish Government on what it plans to do with all the excess waste arising from a ban on biodegradable waste in landfill.
This ban will come into force at the end of the year in Scotland and will apply to virtually all domestic and commercial waste.
LibDem Liam McArthur and Green MSP Lorna Slater.
Green MSP and former Circular Economy Minister Lorna Slater previously indicated to Mr McArthur that “export” could be an option for residual waste.
BBC Disclosure has now uncovered that up to 100 truckloads of Scotland’s waste will be moved each day to England once the ban is introduced.
Mr McArthur said: “Scottish Liberal Democrats have repeatedly warned that the SNP are planning to make England their dumping ground for waste.
“Ministers have turned a blind eye to those warnings, with Green MSP and former Circular Economy Minister Lorna Slater seemingly entirely comfortable with the prospect, despite the harmful environmental impact of such a policy.
“Carrying lorryloads of rubbish to be landfilled just beyond Berwick is even worse for the environment than landfilling it here due to the emissions generated by these journeys.
“If this was happening in reverse, the SNP would be up in arms. Ministers must urgently update parliament and explain what steps it is taking to prepare local authorities for the upcoming ban.”
In June 2022, Mr McArthur submitted the following written question to the Scottish Government:
To ask the Scottish Government, when the 2025 landfill ban comes into force in Scotland, whether residual waste will be exported to England to meet the capacity gap identified in the independent review of the role of incineration in the waste hierarchy and, if this is the case, whether it has identified which facilities in England this waste will go to, and, if it has, whether it will provide details of (a) the facilities involved and (b) how they will manage the exported waste.
You can find former Circular Economy Minister Lorna Slater admitting that “export” could be an option for residual waste treatment here