Scottish Parliament to debate incineration on Thursday 15 September

MSPs are due to discuss the following motion on the morning of  Thursday 15 September: The motion is proposed by Michael McMahon and supported by Margaret Mitchell MSP.

S4M-00853 Michael McMahon: Waste Management—That the Parliament supports the ambition of a Zero Waste Scotland and the waste hierarchy of reduce, reuse, recycle and recover; notes the need for an effective national framework to guide waste management strategy; further notes the Audit Scotland report, Protecting and improving Scotland’s environment, published in January 2010, which concluded that "collectively, councils' plans are not sufficient to meet landfill and recycling targets beyond 2010"; notes the increasing number of waste incineration projects currently in the planning process across Scotland and that many of these projects are opposed by local communities and were opposed by a number of successful candidates during the recent election; believes that local authorities need more clarity on planning guidelines with regard to waste incineration developments, and further believes that no project involving biomass and waste-to-energy should be approved unless concerns such as environmental justice and the impact on wood supply have been thoroughly considered.