I am delighted to accept an invitation to speak at a major Scottish Conference on tackling the challenge of delivering sustainable solutions in delivering waste infrastructure in Scotland. The Mackay Hannah Conference will be held on the 7th September at the King James Thistle Hotel in Edinburgh. The conference programme can be downloaded here. The conference is the first chance to have a detailed look at the new Scottish Zero Waste Plan, and the agenda has been specifically designed to bring together the public and private sector to help facilitate dialogue and deals.
Scotland faces a massive challenge to introduce the much needed waste infrastructure required to meet the target of 70% recycling by 2025. Scotland’s investment in waste infrastructure has moved more slowly than in England where £2billion of PPP funding, larger contracts and WDAs has encouraged a wide range of waste solutions. By comparison, waste contracts in Scotland are smaller, are being delivered with our formal local authority partnerships and are to be delivered with the expertise (but not funding) of the recently created Scottish Futures Trust.
That said there are a range of potential contracts coming forward, with some like Glasgow already well into the formal tendering process. Other voluntary partnerships between local authorities are being created and now seems like a good time to debate ways to rise to what looks like a formidable challenge. With public sector funding in short supply, councils will increasingly need to look to the private sector to provide both technical solutions and funding.
Written by Donald Anderson