The council has secured £1.5 million of Scottish Government funding to help it make the changes required to meet new waste regulations that come into force in December 2025.
Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy, Gillian Martin, wrote to Councillor Jim Lynch, leader of the council, to confirm the funding.
Councillor Lynch said: “I’m delighted that the Acting Cabinet Secretary has recognised that Argyll and Bute is in a unique situation which makes it difficult to meet the requirements of the Biodegradable Municipal Waste (BMW) ban by the deadline.
“As a council we are determined to stand up for our area and our constituents, which is why we have been in negotiation with the Scottish Government for some time. Most recently our Environment, Development and Infrastructure committee took the decision to write, once again, to the Cabinet Secretary, to put our case for additional funding to prepare for the new regulations. I also took the opportunity to raise it directly with the First Minister again at a meeting in Oban last month.
“We are very pleased that we were able to put our case so successfully.”
The new legislation bans almost all biodegradable material (food, card, paper, garden waste etc) from landfill.
The treatment processes used at the sites operated as part of a PPP (public-private partnership) contract the council has with its waste contractor will not be compliant with the BMW ban. That contract runs until 2026, nearly a year after the ban comes into place and to end the contract would have financial implications.
The new funding will allow the council to switch from Mechanical Biological Treatment Plants (MBTs) to Waste Transfer Stations in Oban, Lochgilphead and Dunoon. General waste will then be taken from the Waste Transfer Stations to Energy from Waste plants, rather than being processed with residual waste for landfill, making it compliant with the new government legislation.
The council is progressing work as required on other sites in the area, managed outside the PPP contract, to ensure that they comply with the new legislation when it comes into force.
Notes:
MBT plants reduce the amount of material which goes to landfill through processing, separation of materials and the production of compost- like output (CLO) which is used in landfill restoration.