Rob Edwards

Ministers under fire for failing to green government

from Caledonian Mercury, 26 May 2010

Scottish ministers have been condemned by their own expert advisers for failing to meet most of their targets for cutting pollution and greening government.

Their performance has been described as “poor” and “worrying” by the Sustainable Development Commission, which was set up to advise ministers on environmental policy. Ministers will only be forced to improve if they are subject to external scrutiny, the commission warned.

The Scottish government’s failure to live up to its much-vaunted green credentials has also been lambasted as depressing and hypocritical by environmental groups and opposition politicians. In its defence, the government says that it is now trying harder.

When ministers’ latest environmental performance report was published a few days ago, the spin was all positive. “The Scottish government is taking action to improve its environmental performance as it pledges to lead by example,” boasted the news release.

Though you wouldn’t know it from the blurb, the real picture revealed by the report for 2008-09 was very different. Of the eleven environmental targets ministers set themselves, eight are on track to be missed.

Anger after government axes anti-waste projects

from Sunday Herald, 16 May 2010

Ministers are under fire for failing for tackle Scotland’s vast mountain of waste after they axed pioneering projects aimed at reducing rubbish.

Environmental groups, volunteers and politicians are upset because the Scottish government has cut funding for community-based anti-waste schemes. They say this undermines the government’s aim of “zero waste”.

Although there has been a significant rise in the amount of waste being recycled in recent years, this has not led to a reduction in the 20 million tonnes of waste being produced every year. This is a problem, campaigners say, because preventing waste in the first place is more important.

In an attempt to combat the problem, the Scottish government agreed to fund a series of projects under a £7.5 million programme. One was Communities Reducing Excess Waste (CREW), which was run by Friends of the Earth Scotland, and was meant to run for three years from 2008.

The £200,000 project, which employed two staff and involved 55 volunteers, aimed to encourage communities to reduce their waste by avoiding excess packaging, reusing materials and buying less. But earlier this year its funding was suddenly cut, and its staff made redundant.

Radical recommendations to cut waste ‘sidelined’

from Caledonian Mercury, 13 April 2010

A series of radical recommendations aimed at eliminating Scotland’s waste, including ‘pay as you throw’ schemes, landfill bans and a network of biomass plants, are being sidelined by the Scottish government, insiders say.

Five authoritative reports by the Zero Waste Think Tank, a group of experts set up to advise ministers, are being virtually ignored in drawing up the nation’s waste plans. Critics fear that ministers may be losing the political will for tough action on waste.

The reports, which were meant to inform waste policy, were quietly posted on the government’s website last month at the same time as other announcements about recycling. No reference was made to their publication.

The Zero Waste Think Tank, involving 15 waste specialists from public agencies, voluntary organisations and businesses, started work in March 2008. It ended by producing the five reports, covering delivery, regulation, business and climate pollution.

The reports’ recommendations included the adoption of controversial “pay as you throw” schemes designed to encourage consumers to minimise their rubbish. They also suggested that the dumping of certain wastes on landfill sites should be banned.

Crackdown on mass dumping of toxic tyres

from Sunday Herald, 11 April 2010

There’s millions of them, and they can be noxious, polluting and a haven for rats. But they have been dumped all over Scotland by waste cowboys.

The illegal fly-tipping of old vehicle tyres is one of the nation’s biggest waste problems. But it is now facing a crackdown by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), which is determined to catch “dumb dumpers”.

As many as a million tyres a year have been dumped on waste ground in the central belt since 2004. More than five thousand incidents have been reported, many in the west of Scotland.

As well as being a blight on the landscape, dumped tyres are dangerous. They encourage insect and rodent infestations, and are a major fire risk.

PIles of tyres are often set alight and have to be put out by the fire services, sometimes with great difficulty. And when they burn, tyres produce a toxic cocktail of pollutants that can contaminate water, land and air. 

If the polluted air is inhaled, it can cause major public health problems for nearby communities. The pollutants are particularly harmful for those with breathing difficulties.

Egyptian radioactive scrap finds a home in England

Exclusive, 11 October 2009

A controversial shipment of radioactive scrap metal from Egypt, stored at a freight depot in central Scotland for nine years, has been sent to the UK’s radioactive waste dump at Drigg in Cumbria.

Internal papers from the UK government’s waste management steering committee, released under freedom of information legislation, reveal that prolonged efforts to persuade the Egyptian government to take back the scrap failed.

Junk mail tree-trashers outed by environmentalists

for Sunday Herald, 31 May 2009

It’s one of the banes of the modern age, and it’s destroying the world’s forests. But now we know who the main culprits are.

The big companies most to blame for cramming our letter boxes with junk mail have been unmasked. Well-known catalogue retailers, supermarket chains and publishing companies have all been labelled as woeful paper wasters.

One of the worst offenders is the clothing company, Boden, which recently hit the headlines after the US president’s wife, Michelle Obama, was reported to have ordered one of its catalogues. Several other catalogue companies have been fingered, including Freemans, Argos and Littlewoods.

Also under fire for failing to save paper are the Swedish home furnishing giant, IKEA; the supermarkets Morrisons, Somerfield and Sainsburys; Bauer, which publishes Bella, Heat and FHM; and Future, which publishes computer gaming magazines like XBox 360.

Some of the companies have leapt to their own defence, arguing that their paper is sourced from sustainable forests and recyclable. But consumers have expressed frustration at the mountains of junk mail and waste paper they create.

The average British household is bombarded by 650 items of junk mail every year. The UK consumes four times more paper per person than the world average, and paper production damages forests, pollutes water and helps disrupt the climate.

Shops failing to recycle batteries

from Sunday Herald, 10 May 2009

Scotland’s big-name retailers are failing to help customers recycle their toxic batteries - and they are ill-prepared for a new law that will soon force them to do so.

A survey by the Sunday Herald has uncovered confusion, ignorance and misinformation in the advice given by leading high street shops to customers inquiring about battery recycling.

All but one of 14 major retail chains with over 500 stores across Scotland said that they didn’t currently offer any facilities for battery recycling. And the only one that did - PC World - stressed that it wasn’t promoting its scheme in case it was overwhelmed.

Retailers have been accused of “burying their heads in the sand” by environmentalists, and criticised by battery manufacturers. In response, most of them said they were making efforts to begin battery recycling.

About 41 million batteries are used in Scotland every year, with the vast majority being dumped in landfill sites. Many contain toxic heavy metals like cadmium, mercury and nickel which can contaminate soil and water, threatening wildlife and human health.

The recycling that is thrown away

from Sunday Herald, 08 March 2009

Nearly 30,000 tonnes of waste collected for recycling in Scotland ended up being dumped as landfill, according to new figures released by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa).

In some local authorities up to a fifth of the rubbish meant for recycling was rejected because it was contaminated, or because it was the wrong kind of waste.

The revelations have upset environmentalists, who fear that government recycling targets may not be met. Some councils accept that they need to do better, but others say the figures are misleading.

Sepa supplied the Sunday Herald with a spreadsheet (20kb xls) showing the amounts of waste collected for recycling but then rejected at the collection or processing stage during 2007-08. Across Scotland as a whole 4.4% - 29,126 tonnes - was rejected.

Councils in breach of waste dumping targets

from Sunday Herald, 12 October 2008

Seven Scottish councils have failed to meet government targets to cut the amount of waste they dump in landfill sites, according to new figures from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa).

The worst offender was Aberdeenshire Council, which disposed of 10,600 tonnes more waste to landfill than it should have done. The other six councils which exceeded their targets for 2007-08 were Aberdeen, North Lanarkshire, Inverclyde, Highland, East Lothian and Perth and Kinross.

The councils, and the Scottish government, have all come under fire for not doing enough to encourage recycling and waste minimisation. But they have defended themselves by pointing to a series of initiatives underway to improve their performance.

1,000 new waste plants planned for Scotland

from Sunday Herald, 29 June 2008

As many as a thousand new plants could be built to turn Scotland’s mountains of waste into heat and power for homes and businesses, according to a report for Scotland’s green watchdog.

But the report - to be published this week by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) - will provoke anxiety in communities across the country worried about pollution from waste treatment plants in their areas.

Sepa, however, insists that the proposed new facilities will be clean and strictly regulated. They include up to 741 gas-producing composting plants and 228 small-scale incinerators, all of which could supply hot water and electricity.

Glasgow bids to go greener

from Sunday Herald, 29 June 2008

The Dear Green Place wants to get greener. Glasgow City Council has launched a bid to become one of Europe’s most environmentally-friendly cities.

The council’s leaders are trying to shake off the city’s image as one of the most polluted, most wasteful and most road-obsessed in Scotland by agreeing a series of initiatives aimed at making it more sustainable.

The council has set up a high-level consortium led by Strathclyde University to examine every aspect of life in the city. The objective is “to position Glasgow as one of Europe’s most sustainable cities within five to ten years”.

Big new incinerators could bust government limit

from Sunday Herald, 01 June 2008

Plans to build eight major waste incinerators across Scotland are threatening to bust the Scottish government’s limit on waste-burning, according to a new survey.

Waste companies are proposing to boost Scotland’s incineration capacity 12-fold to over a million tonnes a year. Huge new plants are being planned in Lanarkshire, Aberdeenshire, Highland and East Lothian.

Dangerous waste for Africa seized

from Sunday Herald, 18 May 2008

Two shipments of potentially dangerous waste en route to Africa have been seized by Scotland’s environment watchdog, the Sunday Herald can reveal.

The shipments are now under investigation by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) as part of a major new crackdown on illegal waste exports. This is the first time that such action has been taken in Scotland.

The wrong kind of waste hampers composting

from Sunday Herald, 04 May 2008

One in ten of the wheelie bins collected for composting end up being dumped on landfill sites because they are contaminated with the wrong kind of waste.

The latest figures from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) reveal that nearly 33,000 tonnes of waste collected for composting by local authorities were disposed of as landfill in 2005-06.

According to SEPA and local councils, this is because the waste is contaminated with plastic, tree trunks and other items that can’t be composted. They are urging members of the public to be more careful about what they put in organic bins.

Composting: seriously good shit

a talk to the Composting Association Scotland's seminar, 'Planning, Permitting and Purchasing, Perth, 01 May 2008 

It is good, if somewhat unexpected, to be here. I am not a government minister, in fact more often a government critic. So it’s hard to resist a platform which could have been Richard Lochhead’s or Michael Russell’s. I wish Richard Lochhead well with he and his wife’s new baby.

Like any good opening speaker, I'll start with some jokes, and I'll assume you're broadminded. Composting: in crude terms, in one sense, maybe stretching definitions a little, what we’re talking about here is shit - and boy are there lots of jokes about that. I particularly like the way the simple word can be used to help define almost any human framework of belief.

Plan to dig out old waste dump for new schools

from Sunday Herald, 10 February 2008

An unprecedented plan to excavate a giant waste dump dating back more than 60 years to make way for two new schools has prompted fears of an environmental disaster.

North Lanarkshire Council last week gave the green light to building St Ambrose and Drumpark secondary schools on an old landfill site in Coatbridge. But in order to prevent the build-up of explosive methane leaking from the site, the council is planning to remove all the waste.

For council officials this is “challenging”, but for local residents and politicians, it’s frightening. “It’s an appalling idea,” said Joe Ambrose (61), who overlooks the site from his front window.

Environment watchdog goes green - mostly

from Sunday Herald, 27 January 2008

Scotland’s environmental watchdog is succeeding in greening itself by cutting pollution, waste and air travel - but it still has a problem with the mountains of paper it uses.

The latest green audit of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), to be published tomorrow, shows that the organisation is on track to cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 20% of 1998-99 levels by 2010.

But it has failed to meet its target to reduce paper consumption per employee by five per cent of 2005-06 levels. Only a three per cent cut was actually made, though measures have now been introduced to try and improve on that.

Waste breaches covered up by council

from Sunday Herald, 06 January 2008

A litany of damning allegations about illegal waste dumping, pollution breaches and the mishandling of confidential data on children have been covered up by a Scottish local authority.

Senior officials at Aberdeenshire Council doctored an internal waste audit to cut out its most serious findings, including a warning that the council was vulnerable to “legal action, expensive penalties, loss of credibility and extensive reputational damage”.

A suggestion that the council could also be guilty of “double standards” was omitted, along with the conclusion that “waste management as a service appears to be near the bottom of the list of priorities for Aberdeenshire Council”.

Scotland accused of 65 breaches of European laws

from Sunday Herald, 16 December 2007

Scotland has been accused by the European Union (EU) of 65 violations of laws meant to prevent pollution, protect wildlife and control waste, according to a secret government database released to the Sunday Herald.

The number of alleged breaches of European legal directives over the past six years is twice as high as previously admitted, prompting accusations yesterday that Scotland's record was "shocking" and had been "covered up".

The range of environmental crimes investigated by the EU is very broad. They include breaking rules on overfishing, hazardous waste, water pollution, sewage, radiation protection, plant imports, pesticides, birds of prey and pigs.

Warning that waste target could be missed

from Sunday Herald, 16 December 2007

Ministers are being warned that Scotland could fail to meet a vital target to stem the growth in waste - but that burning large amounts in big incinerators is not the solution.

Instead, the Scottish government is being urged by its environmental advisors to reduce the mountains of rubbish produced by households and businesses. Landfill bans and other compulsory controls should be considered in the drive towards a “zero waste society”, they say.