Perth and Kinross Council is considering waste burning in a £75 million project ahead of Scotland’s landfill ban.
A campaigner at Friends of the Earth Scotland described waste incineration as a “climate wrecking” solution.
But PKC is in a race to find an answer to the region’s household rubbish.
And incineration, or “thermal treatment”, is one of the options on the table.
The national landfill ban comes into force in January 2026.
Kim Pratt is a circular economy campaigner at Friends of the Earth Scotland.
“Thermal treatment is a modern form of incineration – burning waste – that emits climate-wrecking pollutants at an unsustainable level.
“The landfill ban should encourage reducing waste and recycling, rather than burning it.”
What are the rules on incineration?
A Scottish Government spokesperson highlighted a recent review which “found that incineration is currently preferable to landfill as a residual waste treatment option”.
However, the report also found that the number of planning applications approved for incinerators across Scotland means capacity could outstrip demand from 2027.
“That is why we will work within existing statutory frameworks to set out clearly that the Scottish Government does not support the development of further municipal waste incineration capacity in Scotland,” the spokesperson said.
If PKC does go ahead with the thermal treatment of rubbish, it will therefore have to use already established incinerator facilities.
This could involve transporting waste to other parts of the country.
Meanwhile, PKC has fallen short of Scotland’s recycling target in recent years.
The authority’s recycling rates dropped from 52.5% to only 47.4% between the years 2019/20 and 2020/21.
That was against a target of 60%.
Kim says PKC runs “a fairly comprehensive recycling programme”.
However, she adds that it would be better to prevent waste in the first place.
“For councils, this means investing in reuse and community recycling programmes so the material can be used again.”
What are PKC’s plans?
Perth and Kinross is inviting tenders from contractors for a £75m project to treat waste that would otherwise have ended up as landfill.
The contract would be over an initial period of 10 years, which the council could extend to 15.
Thermal treatment of waste is among the solutions PKC is considering.
Kim describes thermal treatment as “a more modern way of burning waste”.
“This is less polluting than older-style incinerators but they still emit CO2 and other pollutants at unsustainable levels.”
A spokesperson for PKC confirmed the authority was “seeking a contractor for the treatment of all non-recyclable waste that we collect.”
Perth and Kinross currently sends all its non-recyclable waste to landfill.
The spokesperson added that PKC was “looking, as far as possible” to minimise the environmental impact of dealing with non-recyclable waste.
She added: “There are a range of options available for non-landfill residual waste treatment, including but not limited to thermal treatment.
“All tenders received for the contract will be considered individually through the usual procurement processes before any final decision is made.”
Councillor Richard Watters is convener of PKC’s climate change and sustainability committee.
“In the near future sending non-recyclable waste to landfill will no longer be an option for Scottish councils.
“We are committed as a council to recycling and reusing as much as possible of the waste the Perth and Kinross area produces and minimising those waste levels wherever we can.”
Conversation