The vision describes a Scotland where resource use is minimised, valuable resources are not disposed of in landfill sites and where most waste is sorted into separate streams for reprocessing. It would leave limited amounts of waste to go to residual waste treatment such as energy from waste facilities.
The principle of the "waste hierarchy" is central to this vision. The hierarchy identifies the prevention of waste as the highest priority, followed by reuse, recycling, recovery of other value (e.g. energy), with disposal as the least desirable option. The waste hierarchy will guide our overall approach to managing our waste. While recycling performance continues to improve, we must also continue to pursue other approaches to recover greater value from the resources we use.
The Zero Waste Plan builds on achievements made following the implementation of the National Waste Strategy: Scotland and the Tayside Area Waste Plan (TAWP). These were integrated into the National Waste Plan for Scotland (2003) however the Zero Waste Plan now supersedes these documents.
In 2008 the Scottish Government set new medium and long term targets for recycling and composting waste. They have been carried over into the Zero Waste Plan and are the targets that all 32 of Scotland's local authorities are striving towards:
- 40% by 2010
- 50% by 2013
- 60% by 2020
- 70% by 2025
Dundee City Council has already met the first target of 40%.
- For detailed information, please visit the Scottish Environment Protection Agency SEPA website.
Dundee City Council is highly regarded in the field of waste management, however in order to comply with the measures laid out in the Zero Waste Plan, existing systems and facilities will need to be expanded upon and new ones adopted.
Integral to the future of municipal waste management in the city will be the continued utilisation of DERL, the existing Waste-To-Energy plant at Baldovie. The plant uses latest technology to generate electricity from the incineration of waste that can be fed back into the national grid.
Added to this over the next 20 years residents of Dundee can expect:
- Existing blue bin collections (waste paper and cardboard), brown bin collections (garden waste) and green box collections (plastics, aluminium cans, mixed glass) to be expanded further across the city.
- The number of recycling points in the city to be increased.
- Recycling centres to be refurbished and able to accept a wider variety of materials for recycling.
- Publicity and awareness raising campaigns
Dundee City Council is an active partner of the East of Scotland Zero Waste Group and will continue to contribute to the production of a Tayside strategy for the prevention of household waste.
