Shetland Islands Council

Waste Management

Topic Goal

To promote sustainable waste management and ensure the efficient, safe and clean collection, storage, treatment and disposal of waste for the whole of Shetland

6.1 Shetland Islands Council is committed to sustainable development and protecting and enhancing the environment. Development proposals for waste management activities should form part of an integrated network of waste management facilities and take into account the waste hierarchy, identified in the UK Strategy on Sustainable Development. The hierarchy, embodied in government planning guidance, sets out four options for waste management in order of priority, which are: waste reduction; reuse; recovery and disposal.

6.2 The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is the regulatory body responsible for pollution, wastes, drainage and emissions to the atmosphere. SEPA issues, monitors and controls waste management and waste carriers' licenses. The Agency predicts that licensed landfill sites in Shetland have at least 10 years' remaining capacity. The Council is the waste collection and disposal authority and is responsible for litter, noise pollution, the Clean Air Act and cleaning up oil pollution on the shoreline. The Operations Division of the Council deals with waste management and processes approximately 40,000 tonnes of waste on Council operated sites every year, at an estimated cost of £718,111 for 1998/99.

Lerwick Waste to Energy Plant

6.3 In the past, waste was sorted and disposed of at the Rova Head landfill site. However the Council has invested in a 'state of the art' waste to energy scheme where the majority of waste will be burned at the recently constructed incinerator and waste heat harnessed by the district heating scheme. The Council has secured contracts to dispose of Orcadian, Shetland Health Board and Shell's offshore wastes, establishing Shetland as a regional waste management centre. The majority of activities are centred north of Lerwick around Greenhead and Rova Head which can be served by both sea and road.

Decommissioning and Special Wastes

6.4 Offshore decommissioning work, worth an estimated £8.5 Billion, already provides local employment and business opportunities, with potential for further expansion currently being explored. Over the next 20 years, 435 platforms will be decommissioned, but the market is expected to peak around 2005 to 2008. If Shetland is to take a lead role in decommissioning work expansion of existing waste management facilities is likely, in addition to the provision of disposal facilities for special wastes.

6.5 The Council has to take into account the best practicable environmental option when considering waste disposal. Shetland's geographical remoteness from recycling markets, the price instability of recycled materials and prohibitive freight costs have all created conditions requiring a different approach to recycling from most councils on the UK mainland. The emphasis therefore needs to be on establishing local markets for recyclables and landfilling certain non-combustible wastes. Burning certain wastes, such as paper which has a high calorific but low market value, contributes to global warming, but this may be more environmentally friendly than transporting it south for recycling, particularly when energy is recovered and fed into the Lerwick district heating scheme. Nevertheless, certain materials such as specialised medical waste and scrap metals will continue to be exported south. The Council also works closely with Shetland Amenity Trust, local communities and businesses to encourage a wide range of recycling initiatives.

National Waste Strategy

6.6 SEPA published a National Waste Strategy in December 1999, which sets targets and a framework to enable sustainable waste management. The Strategy suggests boundaries for waste strategy areas large enough to provide economies of scale and with good transport links. Orkney and Shetland have been identified as a Waste Strategy Area (WSAs) and SEPA, in partnership with the Council, Orkney Islands Council and other organisations and businesses will produce a waste strategy for Shetland and Orkney.

6.7 The Council is a member of Nuclear Free Local Authorities which is an established Local Authority lobby, campaigning to remove or minimise nuclear hazards. Any proposals to dispose of nuclear waste in Shetland would be unacceptable and the Council will continue to lobby against, and monitor the effects of, nuclear waste production and processing. The Council is also a leading member of the local authorities international environmental organisation, KIMO. KIMO, set up in 1990, acts as a unifying and co-ordinating force to improve Northern Seas by cleaning up existing and preventing future pollution in Northern Seas and coastal waters.

Shetland's state-of-the-art Waste to Energy Plant provides heat to homes and businesses in Lerwick (Photograph:SIC)

Strategies

Plan Performance Indicators

• Annual recycling statistics.
• Annual landfill statistics.
• Waste collection statistics.
• Reports of flytipping.