 That concludes portfolio questions. The next item of business is a statement by Lorna Slater on the role of incineration in the waste hierarchy. The minister will take questions at the end of her statement, and so there should be no interventions or interruptions. I call on Lorna Slater up to 10 minutes, minister. Finding better ways to manage the waste that our society is currently creating and ways to reduce the total amount of waste are a key part of moving towards our vision for Scotland's circular economy and tackling the twin climate and biodiversity crises. Delivering this vision requires radical action over the next decade, and this is an exciting time as we accelerate our moves towards a zero-waste circular economy here in Scotland. In November, I set out a range of actions that we would be taking in the short term, including bringing forward a circular economy bill, delivering Scotland's deposit return scheme and undertaking a review of the role of incineration in Scotland's waste hierarchy. I am pleased to say that the complementary consultations on the proposals for a route map to deliver a circular economy in Scotland and on proposals for legislation in a circular economy bill have now been published. I hope that you will all take the opportunity to feed into these consultations and encourage your constituents to do the same. Our primary focus is on preventing material and products from becoming waste through recycling and processing. Of those that do, however, it is equally critical that we are correctly managing the unavoidable and unrecyclable waste that we do produce as we move to a circular economy. Scotland's progress in reducing emissions in the waste and resources sector over the past 20 years has been striking. In 2019, waste and resources sector emissions were over 30 per cent lower than in 2011 and 73 per cent lower than in 1998. Together, we have taken significant strides in reducing the amount of residual waste that we produce through efforts to tackle our throwaway culture and promote recycling. However, Scotland still produces about 4.5 million tonnes of residual waste—that is, black bag waste that typically goes to landfill or incineration. Policies such as the Scottish landfill tax and the forthcoming ban on landfilling biodegradable municipal waste have been successful in diverting waste away from landfill and encouraging action further up the waste hierarchy. Indeed, Scotland exceeded the EU target to divert biodegradable municipal waste front landfill in 2020. However, we are not re-using or recycling as much of this material as we would like. Recently, we have seen an increase in the amount of household waste incinerated, closely matching the reduction in this waste going to landfill. We can and must do better. Around 60 per cent of residual waste in our black bags from homes and businesses around Scotland is recyclable materials. Our on-going policies and additional measures that are proposed in our consultations will make it easier for householders to recycle the right materials and reduce the amount of unrecyclable products on the market, which will drive down the amount of residual waste that we produce. However, it is important to recognise that as we transition to a circular economy, we will still produce residual waste, which needs to be managed in a way that minimises environmental impact without hindering our process towards a circular economy. That is why, in November last year, I appointed Dr Colin Church to lead an independent review of the role of incineration in the waste hierarchy. I am grateful to Dr Church for undertaking that review, and to all those who took the time to provide evidence and engage in conversations with Dr Church over the course of the review. Dr Church set the detailed scope for the review within agreed parameters, which included a prioritisation of the national capacity requirements for municipal residual waste, consideration of the societal impacts of residual waste treatment, including health and community impacts, and consideration of how emissions from existing infrastructure could be reduced. You will all be aware that we published Dr Church's report on 10 May, which sets out some valuable findings and recommendations. I hope that members will agree that the scope and approach that Dr Church adopted has provided a robust report, which provides a solid evidence base to inform discussions and decisions on how we manage municipal residual waste in a way that minimises environmental impacts. The review makes 12 recommendations based on key findings around capacity, strategic planning of waste infrastructure, data and community engagement. We support and will take action to deliver all of Dr Church's recommendations for the Scottish Government. Many of those recommendations are also relevant for local authorities and the wider waste industry. I would encourage local authorities and industry to consider what actions they will take and how they could work with us to respond to relevant recommendations. The review also makes two provisional recommendations on decarbonisation, pending the completion of further detailed analysis of options to decarbonise existing residual waste infrastructure. This work has been commissioned and is expected to be delivered by the end of the year. I am pleased that Dr Church has agreed to remain in his role as independent chair, and I understand that Dr Church is planning to hold additional stakeholder engagement sessions for this work. I am sure that he will let stakeholders know how they can get involved shortly. We have published our response to the 12 full recommendations, and I will provide a summary of some of the key areas today. While it is clear from the report that incineration has a role to play in the management of unavoidable, unrecyclable waste in a sanitary way, the review rightly recognises that the only way to stop any negative environmental impacts from residual waste is to prevent that waste from happening in the first place. Our draft route map sets out proposals to minimise the amount of residual waste that we produce, move to a circular economy and greatly reduce the need for incineration in Scotland. In relation to the incineration capacity that we need in Scotland, Dr Church found that while there is likely to be a temporary undercapacity of residual waste treatment in Scotland in 2025, when the ban on land-filling biodegradable municipal waste comes into force, Scotland faces a real risk of overcapacity by 2027, if all of the incineration plants that have planning permission are built to schedule. Based on those findings, the review recommends that no further planning permission is granted to incineration infrastructure within the scope of the review. That is incinerators that treat municipal waste, with some exceptions. We accept that the risk of overcapacity is real and unpalatable and that further action is required. That is why we will work within existing statutory frameworks to set out clearly that the Scottish Government does not support the development of further municipal waste incineration capacity in Scotland, with very limited exceptions. New national planning policy will be introduced through the national planning framework for, which will be presented to the Scottish Parliament for approval later this year. In addition, the notification direction requiring local authorities to alert ministers of planning applications for new incineration facilities and notify ministers if they are minded to grant planning permission for incineration facilities will remain in place. There will, of course, be some very limited exceptions to that. The review highlights the challenges that rural and island communities face in dealing with their residual waste. We will continue to support all local authorities in making the most appropriate provisions for other landfill ban. The review also recommends that the Scottish Government take a more strategic approach to planning and deploying waste management facilities as part of that, to develop a cap to indicate the residual waste treatment capacity required in Scotland. We will identify options to develop such a cap as part of a residual waste plan, which we will publish by 2024. It is imperative for planning decisions that this cap is robust and the review noted challenges around data, recommending that the Scottish Government develop better waste management data and improve its capacity to model future trends. In response, we will build upon on-going work, including implementing a digital waste tracking service and on-going and proposed compositional analyses by undertaking a feasibility study on modelling options to forecast future trends and develop an indicative cap. Finally, I was disappointed to read the review's findings that communities do not always receive the authentic and committed engagement from local authorities and industry that they deserve. That is unacceptable. We will only achieve our vision for a circular economy by involving everyone in important conversations, particularly on waste management. In line with the review's recommendations, we will work with community groups and local authorities to facilitate the co-production of guidelines for effective community engagement by 2023. Our published response sets out in further detail and additional actions that we intend to take to address the issues and recommendations that are set out in Dr Church's report. I intend to incorporate as many of those actions as possible into our final waste route map, taking account of any feedback provided through the on-going consultation. I look forward to working with colleagues in this chamber and all stakeholders to develop and deliver our route map and circular economy bill, and together to accelerate our move towards a zero-waste circular economy here in Scotland. The minister will now take questions on the issues raised in her statement. I intend to allow around 20 minutes for questions after which we will move on to the next item of business. I would be grateful if members wished to ask a question where to press their request to speak buttons now. I thank the minister for advance sight of her statement. I would also like to thank Dr Church for carrying out his review. Incineration should be a last resort, but today's statement confirms its business as usual for burning waste. That is a missed opportunity and the minister has done the bare minimum on incineration, declining new planning permission, but is happy for the massive overcapacity that has already approved to go ahead. I warned the Government as far back as 2017 that even its advisers at Zero Waste Scotland issued a warning, but they did not heed those warnings then, and they are not heeding them now. Instead of risking Scotland becoming the ashtray of Europe. So now the SNP and Greens face the prospect of using taxpayer funds to buy local authority contracts out or even importing waste to feed the overcapacity. Not content with being the ashtray of Europe, they could turn us into the dump of Europe too. We know that the minister accepts those arguments because in her own manifesto she promised to, and I quote, oppose the construction of new incinerators as they alleviate the pressure to reduce waste, cause hair pollution and are bad for the climate. Can the minister explain why she has abandoned that promise and is content to allow huge capacity already in the planning system to go ahead? I feel that the member has not understood what is being announced today. The Scottish Greens made a manifesto commitment last year to oppose the construction of new incinerators. We have delivered on that and more. As I have said out today, we are fully implementing the recommendations of the independent review that I commissioned, and that includes no further planning permission for incineration facilities and setting an indicative cap. We will develop an indicative cap to support future planning and investment decisions following the improvements in data. The notification direction will remain in place. That means that local authorities will not be able to grant consent unless ministers have cleared the authority to do that. The member may recall that a similar notification direction was used previously and successfully to give the effect of a moratorium on unconventional oil and gas. I thank the minister for advance sight of her statement. Labour welcomes Dr Churchill's report and recommendations, as far as I go. It should not have taken a review to tell the minister to implement her own manifesto. That dithering has delayed further meaningful action. The minister said that we will not see new national planning policy and incineration until NPF4 is presented to Parliament for approval later this year. Does the minister have confidence that the existing notification directive on planning permission for new incinerators is really effective enough? Given the fact, approval of a new plan to burn waste plastics was approved in Western Batonshire since the publication of the review. Given Scotland's appalling record on recycling, we have seen the amount of waste incinerated in the country shockingly increased by over 200 per cent between 2011 and 2020, with incineration of household waste increasing by nearly 300 per cent. As we have heard, Dr Churchill's highlights from 2027 will have overcapacity on incineration, even with a ban on planning permission for new plants, as existing plants with permission will continue to be built. Slow new capacity is one thing, but what will the minister do to reduce overcapacity? Even though the report on the full environmental implications of existing incinerators has not been published yet, we know that our current incinerators are some of Scotland's biggest polluters, and they need to be phased out sooner rather than later. That will not happen simply by banning new incinerators being built. We have launched a consultation into the development of our route map, which sets out our proposal to reduce residual waste. That is where we all want to get to. In order to manage the potential for a risk of overcapacity in the system, we will work within existing statutory and other frameworks to set out clearly that the Scottish Government does not support the development of further municipal waste incineration capacity in Scotland, with very limited exceptions. That notification direction, which will remain in place, requires planning authorities to alert Scottish ministers of new planning applications that involve incineration facilities and to notify ministers if they are minded to grant planning permission for incineration facilities. I am sure that the member would agree with me that the best way to reduce the side effects and negative effects of dealing with residual waste is to ensure that we have the minimum amount of residual waste in the first place. As we move to a circular economy and improve our waste prevention activities, for example, through the recent removal of single-use plastics and with an ever-increasing awareness of the vitality to reuse, reduce and recycle our domestic waste, does the minister agree with me that Dr Colin Church's report lays bare that incineration should be a transitional technology that helps to bridge the gap from mass landfill to a low-waste, low-carbon, more circular economies? With his capacity analysis showing that there is a real risk of long-term overcapacity from 2027, if all or most of the incineration capacity is built, with that in mind, considerations for post-development still to be consented, such as the killock energy from waste facilities in my constituency, should not be granted to incineration infrastructure within the scope of the review. The member's description of incineration as a transitional technology is quite right, I think. Dr Church's review makes it clear that incineration has a role to play in treating Scotland's unavoidable, unrecyclable municipal waste. However, that role is limited and, as we move to a circular economy, we will need significantly less residual waste treatment capacity. Dr Church's report also highlights that we need to mitigate the risks of overcapacity, and the best way to do that is to ensure that we do not build more capacity than necessary. I am aware that there is a live planning application with East Ayrshire Council. However, I cannot comment on the merits of the proposed development, as that could be prejudicial to the outcome of that decision-making process. However, under the current notification direction, if the council is minded to approve the application, it will be required to formally notify ministers who would then consider whether to call in the application for their own determination or return it to the council to determine. Before I take the next question, I will have to insist on shorter questions and responses that will be unable to take all members who are interested in this item. Liam Kerr will be followed by Audrey Nicholl. Dr Church's review also called for a reduction of the proportion of recycled material in the residual waste system. The Government's 2013 recycling target is 50 per cent of household waste. Statistics relating to 2020 show that only 42 per cent of rubbish was so recycled, the lowest level, since 2013, which certainly is striking. When will Scotland reach the 2013 recycling target? I thank the member very much for his interest in the question. On 30 May, we launched our proposals to help to tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis in Scotland by supporting our transition to zero waste and circular economy. Those two consultations will help tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis by preserving precious resources and cutting our waste. Together, those consultations set out key proposed actions and the tools that we need to meet those targets. As the minister will know, an energy from waste facility is in the process of being constructed in my constituency of Aberdeen South and North Concardin. It will become a neighbour both to the Tory community and local businesses, some that have significant energy costs associated with the nature and operation of their business. The facility potentially provides an opportunity to provide cheaper heating to businesses, as well as residents via a grid network. I ask the minister for her support in ensuring that this kind of opportunity is fully utilised by project stakeholders, given the impact energy price hikes have had on both businesses and Scotland's hardest hit families, including many of the constituents. I am afraid that this question is an example of the questions that we do not have time for today, so if we could be much more markedly brief, I would be very grateful. We fully support the development of both domestic and business heat networks, and Dr Teuch concluded that promoting combined heat and power could play a role in decarbonising incineration facilities. We are providing £300 million via Scotland's heat network fund to develop heat networks, which could, if well located, utilise waste heat. It is welcome that the Scottish Government has accepted the recommendations made in the review, although it remains unfortunate that the Scottish Greens have yet again had to be forced into backing a policy that, just last year, they committed to supporting in their manifesto. Today's announcement will be welcomed by campaigners whom I have campaigned with many times at the Kallwch site in Ocaltree, East Ayrshire, but, surely, given the report, the minister can categorically confirm today that the notification directive on planning permission will mean that the proposed incinerator development at this site will not go ahead. The member will know that I cannot comment on the merits of any particular proposed development. I am not allowed to comment on any particular thing. That is against the rules. I know that many members of the Labour benches will feel frustrated as they watch on from the sidelines as Greens in government deliver real, determined action to deliver a greener Scotland, but for ones perhaps they should welcome progress rather than manufacture complaints. The Scottish Greens made a manifesto commitment last year to oppose the construction of new incinerators. We have delivered on that and more. As I have said out today, we are fully implementing the recommendations that were made in the independent review that I commissioned, and that includes no further planning permission for incineration facilities and setting an indicative cap. Scottish Liberal Democrats exposed how the SNP Government's 2021 landfill ban was to be met by sending rubbish on lorries to be dumped in English landfill sites instead. Can the minister tell Parliament whether, when the 2025 landfill ban comes into force in Scotland, will rubbish be exported to England for landfill or for incineration? I thank the member for that question. When considering solutions, the review made it clear that any short-term risks of undercapacity needed to be balanced with long-term risks of overcapacity. The review also makes it clear that incineration is not the only option to manage residual waste in the short term, and the combined capacity of facilities currently operating in development or with planning permission is more than enough to manage Scotland's residual waste. We will continue to work with local authorities to provide technical, legal and procurement support to ensure that they have a solution in place by 2025. Will the minister join me in congratulating the Dove Stale Action Group, who were successful in their campaign to block the construction of a new incinerator in South Lanarkshire, and can she set out whether the Scottish Government can ensure that planning processes consider the potential for air pollution being carried to nearby settlements, as that was something of a huge concern to the people of East Kilbride? Of course, the member will know that I cannot comment on any particular planning application. In reviewing the evidence, which included rapid evidence review conducted by Public Health Scotland, the review found that all forms of residual waste treatment pose risks to human health and the environment, so all need to be properly regulated to manage those risks. The review also found that there is no compelling evidence that incineration is any worse than any other options when regulated well. Indeed, with current stringent emission standards, the evidence is that air quality impacts are probably small. That said, the best way to minimise health risks of residual waste treatment technology is to reduce the amount of residual waste that we produce through waste prevention, reuse and recycling. I am delighted that there has been an effective ban on approvals for new incinerators since November last year and that now this has been made permanent. This is what I have been campaigning for with local communities since 2017. I am proud that with Greens and Government, we are finally seeing an end to the incinerator free for all. What guidance is the Scottish Government offering councils to ensure that they can now deliver the effective ban on new incinerator applications going forward? I thank the member for that question and, of course, for the huge amount of campaigning and effort that he has put into this issue for many years. Dr Church's review makes it clear that the best form of residual waste treatment is preventing it from occurring in the first place. Right now, we are supporting local authorities to reduce the amount of residual waste that they produced. For example, through our £70 million recycling improvement fund, to improve local authority recycling infrastructure, I have already awarded £20.3 million to 13 local authorities to increase the quantity and quality of recycling, marking the beginning of one of the biggest investments in Scotland in recycling in a generation. We are also working closely with local authorities to support those who do not currently have solutions for the forthcoming ban on land-filling biodegradable and municipal waste. Can the minister expand on how the Scottish Government will work within existing statutory and other frameworks to set out clearly that the Scottish Government does not support the development of further municipal waste incineration capacity in Scotland? I thank the member very much for the question. We have launched a consultation, as you know, into the delivery of our route map, which wants to reduce the amount of residual waste that we need. Through this proposal, we will consider a strategic approach for residual waste infrastructure and how that interacts with local authorities to implement the necessary residual waste handling. We will ensure that we take opportunities to embed a strategic approach to infrastructure in any relevant interventions that are taken forward on our route map following consultation. In her opening statement, the minister referred to EU regulations. A number of changes have recently been made to EU regulations in the area of incineration. Given the Scottish Government's stated policy of keeping pace with EU laws, can the minister therefore explain what differences currently exist in this area between regulations in Scotland and regulations at the EU level? As you are correct, our intention is to stay aligned where possible with EU law, and I am happy to write to the member with specific details on that point. How can we ensure that any energy from the nest plant currently being built in Aberdeen would be used to help folk out of fuel poverty? We are fighting grant funding through our low-carbon infrastructure transition programme to help develop heat network, which will distribute heat produced from the energy from waste plant to provide affordable warmth to consumers in the tarry area of Aberdeen. Phase 1 is currently being constructed, and the Scottish Government will work closely with Aberdeen City Council as the network's development continues. The minister has left the door wide open for new incinerators. Underfunded planning authorities and battle weary communities will have to continue to deal with the threat of new incinerators, including those that are consented and not yet built. Can she at least be honest about that? I feel that the member has not understood the situation that we are in today. The notification direction will remain in place. That means that local authorities will not be able to grant consent unless ministers first have cleared the authority to do that. I will remind the member that a similar notification direction was used previously and successfully to give the effect of a moratorium on unconventional gas. In implementing Dr Church's recommendations, we will implement an indicative cap to supply to the support, future planning and investment decisions following improvements in the data. That concludes the ministerial statement, the role of incineration in the waste hierarchy. There will be a brief pause before we move on to the next item of business.