Scotland's recycling record is poor

Announcing details of the Scottish Executive's National Waste Plan, Ross Finnie has called for a seven-fold increase in recycling of material.

The strategy includes proposals for the segregation of household waste.

Mr Finnie said the executive wants to see 25% of municipal waste recycled by 2006, with this rising to 55% by 2020 and a reduction in waste sent to landfill sites.

Incineration of waste creates toxic by-products, wastes valuable resources and leads to fewer jobs Dan Barlow, Friends of the Earth Scotland

He has promised an investment of �230m over the next three years to assist local authorities in implementing their local waste plans.

Mr Finnie said: "Scotland's track record on recycling is abysmal - the launch of our National Waste Plan will help take Scotland from the bottom of Europe's recycling league towards the top.

"Improving our record on recycling is vitally important. We have set initial targets of recycling and composting 25% of municipal waste by 2006, and by 2020 we intend to raise this figure to 55%.

"We are conscious of the effect that current actions have on the environment.

"That is why our plan will reduce the amount of waste we currently send to landfill from 90% to 30% by 2020."

Targets were prepared in talks with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), environment groups and councils.

As part of the strategy, 11 area waste plans will be created to co-ordinate the work of local authorities.

Most of Scotland's waste goes to landfill sites

Mr Finnie said incinerators would continue to play a part in waste management but in future they will not be allowed to burn everything and will have to produce heat and/or electricity.

Friends of the Earth Scotland warned that continued reliance on incineration for waste disposal could backfire on the executive.

Dan Barlow said: "Incineration of waste creates toxic by-products, wastes valuable resources and leads to fewer jobs than sustainable waste solutions such as recycling or composting.

"However, this plan proposes nearly a 10-fold increase in so-called 'Energy from Waste' facilities by 2020.

"In a worst case scenario this could result in more polluting incinerators forced upon communities."

However, the group said it generally welcomed the recommendations.

The Scottish National Party said the plan failed to address the amount of waste actually being produced, which continued to grow.

Spokesman Bruce Crawford said: "Ross Finnie has effectively admitted that the executive has all but given up on reducing the amount of waste produced.

"The initial target was a miserly reduction of only 1% per year. But waste is still increasing by 2% in Scotland.