Scotland's Zero Waste Plan.

Scotland's Zero Waste Plan (2010) is intended to create a stable framework that will provide confidence for the investment necessary to deliver a zero waste Scotland over the next 10 years. Plan's vision is: a Scotland where resource use is minimised, valuable resources are not disposed of in landfills, and most waste is sorted into separate streams for reprocessing, leaving only limited amounts of waste to go to residual waste treatment, including energy from waste facilities. To achieve this vision the Plan sets strategic directions in the key areas of activity for the medium term up to 5 years.
The key areas of activities are: resource streams, economic opportunity, resource management sector, and education and awareness. 1) Resource stream includes strategic directions aimed at: encourage waste prevention as a top priority across all resource streams, take action to increase the quantity and quality of resources recycled, clear and coordinated sector-specific programmes, introduce policy levers that systematically drive the transition to a zero waste society across all resource streams, improve data on resource use and measurement, introduce a new metric for waste that better captures the environmental impact of resource use. 2) Under economic opportunities the Government will support the development of sustainable and high value markets for recyclate; development of infrastructure and resource streams; encourage business, the public sector and householders to reuse or refurbish materials; provide market confidence to enable businesses to invest in innovative resource management infrastructure; recover and utilise the electricity and/or heat from resources which cannot be reused or recycled for greater environmental or economic benefit, in line with Scotland’s renewable energy goals.
3) Resource management sector commits the Government to encourage business investment in resource management and treatment; facilitate land-use planning systems that will support the delivery of a zero waste Scotland; set a waste regulation framework; drive innovation and improve skill levels and health and safety in the resource management sector. 4) To what concerns Education and awareness Scotland commits to deliver clear and targeted education and awareness programmes and local and national awareness campaigns; develop the role of measures to influence waste behaviours, including incentives; encourage understanding of the value of resources within the education system.