What action it is taking to promote the creation of energy from waste infrastructure in Scotland.

The Independent Review of the Role of Incineration in the Waste Hierarchy in Scotland made it clear that Scotland does not need additional waste incineration facilities to treat our unavoidable and unrecyclable municipal residual waste, beyond those for which planning permission has already been granted, with very limited exceptions.That is why the Scottish Government introduced restrictions on energy from waste (EfW) developments in National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4), which came into effect on 13 February 2023.A subsequent EfW capacity analysis, commissioned and published by Zero Waste Scotland (August 2026), has highlighted that there is limited headroom in the Scottish EfW fleet to provide the required contingency capacity for shutdowns, highlighting the need to continue to make progress on waste reduction and recycling.Transitioning to a circular economy and reducing, reusing and recycling waste, remains a key Scottish Government priority. A range of measures are being progressed through Scotland's Circular Economy and Waste Route Map to help reduce the amount of residual waste requiring treatment, and support the transition to a more circular economy. These measures include the new household recycling Code of Practice, which will promote greater consistency in services to increase recycling and reduce waste.