The additional cash was announced by environment secretary Richard Lochhead at the recent Scottish Waste and Resources Conference in Glasgow.
Funding will be available until next April to help local authorities meet their target commitments and specifically to fund improvements to household waste recycling centres and for increasing collections of glass from households. The money will be administered by Zero Waste Scotland, the Scottish Government’s delivery partner.
The new cash is in addition to £5m already made available through Zero Waste Scotland this year to support household food waste collections and will help councils move from the present average recycling rate of 41% to the 50% target next year.
Lochhead told the conference: “Our vision for zero waste is a long-term ambition but getting to the point where the majority of our household waste is recycled will be a major milestone, especially considering that before devolution our recycling rate was just 5%.
“We are making funds available to councils to help them meet our ambition. Councils have made huge progress. Seven councils have already hit the challenging 50% recycling target by adopting a ‘can do’ approach.
“But this is also about a much bigger prize. It is about keeping valuable materials circulating in our economy so we can create jobs and business opportunities here in Scotland.”
The CIWM has already welcomed the strong lead shown by the Scottish Government through legislation passed in the spring. Duncan Simpson, chairman of the organisation’s Scottish Centre, said: “A lot has been achieved by our sector, waste professionals and the public, to date but we all have bigger challenges ahead and the continued support of the Scottish Government is greatly appreciated.”
