Parliament Workbench
Data: Motions & questions to 19 Nov 2026

Written Question · S2W-10486 · Session 2

How sewage sludge is disposed of and in which locations.

Answered Asked by Adam Ingram SNP Lodged 10 Sep 2004

The question

To ask the Scottish Executive how sewage sludge is disposed of and in which locations.

The answer

Answered by Ross Finnie on 16 Sep 2004 · 6 days after it was lodged, on time

The member will appreciate the difference between disposal and recycling or recovery. In terms of pure disposal, now that dumping at sea has been banned the remaining permissible routes are landfill and incineration (without energy recovery).
Recycling and recovery methods include spreading on agricultural land as a nutrient and soil enhancer for agricultural crops, on non-agricultural land (such as forestry) for similar reasons, and use in land restoration, for example in restoring opencasts. Sewage sludge is also burned as a fuel, which is a form of energy recovery.
While the Scottish Executive is aware of various activities involving sewage sludge, it does not regulate individual activities and consequently full information about locations, or indeed about whether all the routes described above are actually used, is not held centrally. Sewage sludge is, however, a waste and consequently all the activities described above are covered by various waste management regimes. These regimes are operational matters for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

In the Official Report

No contribution in the Official Report cites S2W-10486 by reference.