To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work to support the introduction of a ban on biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill. (S6O-03843)

Scotland was the first nation in the United Kingdom to introduce a ban on sending biodegradable municipal waste to landfill, and 29 local authorities have arrangements in place to comply with the ban, which comes into force on 31 December 2025.

Zero Waste Scotland continues to provide support to local authorities without arrangements to ensure that they are able to meet the requirement on 31 December 2025, and it will publish an updated analysis of residual waste management capacity in Scotland in mid-October.

UK statistics on waste that were published on 28 September show a decrease of 53 per cent of biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill in Scotland since 2010, in part reflecting the preparations for the forthcoming ban.

The Scottish Government accepts that there is a risk of incineration overcapacity within as little as two years of the landfill ban being introduced. However, despite the Government claiming to oppose incinerators, a loophole means that those already with planning permission can go ahead. In fact, an extra 420,000 tonnes of capacity have become operational in just the past two years. The loophole can be closed, so how will the cabinet secretary prevent Scotland from becoming the ashtray of Europe?

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has powers to make impartial assessments, put pollution prevention and control regulations in place, and make decisions relating to environmental permits in accordance with those regulations. I know that there have been calls for the Scottish ministers to intervene in the process that is run by SEPA—the PPC process—but they would not normally do so unless there were exceptional circumstances.

The key policy levers that are available to the Scottish ministers to manage capacity are in planning. A review was carried out to which we responded, saying that no further planning permission should be granted for incineration facilities beyond what is already in place.