Significant progress is being made towards the Scottish Minister’s targets of 25% recycling and composting rates by the end of this year, according to the latest waste figures released on 3 October by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).
The quarterly statistics from January-March 2006 indicates a recycling and composting rate of 22.2%. The rolling figure for municipal waste recycled or composted from April 2005-March 2006 is 24.4%.
The use of rolling year data is considered by SEPA to be the best means of comparison of the annual data, as this eliminates seasonal factors.
SEPA’s Calum MacDonald said: “These figures highlight just how important it is for people to think about what happens to their waste. This is encouraging news. A successful Scotland needs a healthy economy and a healthy society. Both depend on having a healthy, well protected environment. This is one way we can influence the environment of the future by acting now."
Scottish local authorities submit recycling data to SEPA on a quarterly basis via the Landfill Allowance Scheme Quarterly Monitoring Return.The overall results are available on the SEPA website at
http://www.sepa.org.uk/nws/data/returns.htm.