A £7.5 million fund to support local recycling projects opened its doors to community groups today.

Speaking at the Community Recycling Network Service (CRNS) annual conference in Perth, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment Richard Lochhead also announced that the new Zero Waste Think Tank will meet for the first time later this month.

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He said:

"Dealing with waste sustainably is crucial to the future of Scotland and the future of the planet. Our performance on waste has improved considerably with notable progress on recycling and reducing the amount of waste going to landfill but there is still much to be done to meet our goal of a zero waste Scotland.

"The voluntary sector, which has come up with some of the most creative waste solutions to date, will continue to play an invaluable role in helping us achieve our ambitious targets. That is why the Scottish Government is making £2.5 million a year available over the next three years to support community recycling projects.

"We are now seeking innovative applications from not-for-profit projects which work to reduce, reuse and recycle waste. Previous community-led projects have included recycling mattresses, selling recycled glass products and reusing carpets.

"We need more ideas like this. We must push back the boundaries and conjure up new ways of preventing and reducing waste. Our new Zero Waste Think Tank will bring together the best possible expertise and meets for the first time later this month. I have specifically asked this group to look at what legislative steps we might need to take to achieve a zero waste Scotland.

"Everyone must do their bit to reduce waste. A commitment to recycle more is one of the pledges we have asked people to make as part of our Greener Scotland campaign. Only by all working together - individuals, communities, businesses and Government - will we truly be able to achieve zero waste - everyone needs to play their part."

The new think tank has been established to gather expert views to work towards a zero waste Scotland. The first meeting will be held on March 26, with members to include Network Director of CRNS, Iain Gulland. Full membership will be announced shortly.

Money available to community projects can be used towards a range of measures including preventing waste and developing innovation in recycling to help achieve a zero waste Scotland.

Projects funded by previous community recycling grants include:

• The first project to recycle mattresses in the UK
• Waste Wise Armadale, run by Changeworks, providing waste prevention advice for over 4,000 homes in Armadale
• A project in Shetland using recycled glass to create new products
• A project which re-uses carpets

The support for community recycling has four strands: grants for waste prevention; grants for enterprise (recycling); small grants (under £5,000) and capacity building. The waste prevention; enterprise (recycling) and small grants are opening for applications today. Applications for capacity building support will be opening shortly.

The Scottish Government is due to consult on new targets to reduce landfill and increase recycling including:

• the amount of municipal waste being recycled or composted is to be increased to 60 per cent by 2020 and a new target of 70 per cent by 2025
• landfill from municipal waste is to be reduced to five per cent by 2025
• no more than 25 per cent of municipal waste is to be used to generate energy by 2025 and large, inefficient incinerators are to be rejected
• keeping the existing challenging target of stopping the growth in municipal waste by 2010

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