For once a pat on the back for Edinburgh Council for having the foresight to invest in the Millerhill incinerator, along with Midlothian Council, so less than five per cent of waste goes to landfill.
The plant turns waste into electricity and in due course will be able to supply heat for homes in the emerging Shawfair district. According to the council, landfill is only used for items too big to burn or when the plant is closed for maintenance.
Alas, a BBC investigation this week revealed that when a Scottish Government landfill ban is imposed at the end of the year, there won’t be the incinerator capacity to cope, so up to 100 lorries a day will be taking Scottish waste to English landfill sites as far away as Manchester ─ some 600,000 tonnes a year ─ if enough trucks can be found.
It’s not as if this should come as a shock, because they have had four years to get ready because the ban was originally due to be introduced in 2021 but was delayed by Covid.
Just like the botched Deposit Return Scheme, the SNP’s attention to detail is sadly lacking and the preparation for idealistic policy impositions simply isn’t good enough.
We might even have the situation when trucks of waste heading for landfill in Northumberland are trundling past Millerhill as it works to capacity.
If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, in the SNP’s Scotland it’s the only one with no potholes.
