Scotland is contributing to a global waste crisis, The Mail on Sunday can reveal, as figures show it ships tens of thousands of tons of trash to developing nations which dump or burn rubbish.
Despite SNP attempts to tout its climate credentials, mountains of waste are being sent for disposal from Scotland to countries such as Malaysia and Turkey.
Investigations by eco-activists have previously revealed British rubbish has been torched or dumped on the roadside in Malaysia. Turkey has also been found to have burned UK plastics.
Other developing countries used to dispose of Scottish waste include India, Pakistan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, according to documents handed to this newspaper.
Now, as the true scale of Scotland’s contribution to the global waste crisis is revealed, opposition parties have highlighted the SNP’s ‘hypocrisy’ in sending its trash abroad.
Plastic waste at an illegal recycling site in Malaysia
Tory MSP Maurice Golden said: ‘The amount of waste sent overseas by the SNP for someone else to deal with is horrific. We could be recycling and reusing so much of it.
‘It’s hugely hypocritical of the Scottish Government to constantly claim green credentials when it’s offloading its problems elsewhere.
‘People will also be uncomfortable with how much of our waste is imposed on poorer countries who are already majorly disadvantaged when it comes to fighting climate change.’
Greenpeace campaigner Rudy Schulkind said: ‘The scam of exporting waste to poorer countries and hoping they recycle materials we can’t needs to end.
‘It is only fair we take responsibility for our own mess.’ Figures released to Mr Golden’s office by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) show that, since 2019, 1.4 million tons of
Tory MSP Maurice Golden described the amount of waste sent overseas by the SNP as ‘horrific’
Scotland’s waste has been shipped overseas. That includes 101,000 tons of paper and 18,000 tons of plastic.
About 146,168 tons of waste has been sent to developing countries, including more than 146 tons of plastic, in the past five years.
A 2021 Greenpeace report branded Turkey – which received 79,000 tons of Scottish waste over that time, including 49.7 tons of plastic – a plastic ‘waste dump’.
A BBC investigation found plastic waste from Britain was being dumped and burned there.
Malaysia is also said to have dumped British rubbish.
According to latest Sepa figures, Scotland has sent 43,355 tons of waste to Malaysia since 2019 – 57 tons of which has been plastic.
Since 2019, a total of 54,538 tons of mixed hazardous waste has been sent abroad to be disposed of.
Sepa said: ‘We work closely with partner agencies across the world to ensure that Scotland’s waste doesn’t become another country’s environmental problem.’
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