Environmental campaigners have said new European legislation, which should cut the amount of rubbish being dumped in landfill sites, will not cut pollution.

Friends of the Earth Scotland has said eight new incinerators are planned which will burn a substantial amount of the three million tonnes of rubbish thrown away in Scotland every year.

They claim that these will cause air pollution.

Head of Research Dr Richard Dixon said local authorities should be promoting recycling instead.

He said: "We have not really looked at what we should be doing, which is going for imaginative recycling and composting schemes."

And he called on the Scottish Executive to get "tougher" with waste management targets.

Existing incinerators have already broken safety limits, including the release of some toxic chemicals, Friends of the Earth claim.

The new legislation will also reduce the incentive for local authorities to recycle waste materials, they say.

Scotland is already at the bottom of the European league table for recycling.

However, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) says that its National Waste Strategy will cover a range of different options for managing waste more sustainably.

These will include more the recovery of materials for recycling or composting as well as producing electricity from waste.