Glasgow City Council send £13m of recycling waste to Spain
Labour Councillor Paul Carey, who uncovered the figures, told the newspaper: "I am astonished and concerned that this waste is leaving Scotland to go to other countries. The question is: do we have the equipment to recycle this waste here? If not, why not?
"We could be creating jobs in Glasgow if we had the infrastructure to recycle our own waste."
Glasgow City Council send £13m of recycling waste to Spain (Image: Newsquest)
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Councils across Scotland may have to send truckloads of waste to England every day once the landfill ban comes in at the end of this year.
The Scottish Government is banning waste from being buried in landfill as part of the bill, and sending it across the border will be a temporary solution.
Glasgow council has confirmed that some of its waste is sent to Europe as part of its drive to boost recycling.
In a freedom of information response, town hall chiefs said they had not sent any waste directly to landfill since October 2023.
Speaking to the newspaper, they added: "Due to the lack of re-processing facilities within the Glasgow City Council boundaries, the majority of the other waste managed by the council is sent out with the city for treatment.
"A small quantity of waste may initially be sent to facilities in Glasgow for some pre-treatment, for example, mixed papers, but end destinations will be out with the city."
Some of the waste is sent to a contractor in Northern Ireland, including paper, cardboard, and plastic bottles, before it is reprocessed in plants in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain.
Other waste, from grey bins, such as plastic and metal containers, is also claimed to end up in the same countries for similar reprocessing.
The council confirmed that the total bill for sending and treating waste last year, 2023, came to around £12.8 million.
A Glasgow council spokesman told the publication: "Glasgow's aim is to increase recycling performance, divert as much waste from landfill as possible and reduce the carbon impact of the city's waste . There are clear signs of improvement in waste-related carbon emissions, landfill levels and recycling performance.
"Annual landfill is now almost 120,000 tonnes lower than it was in 2018 when the city's recycling and renewable energy centre opened. Waste-related carbon emissions have also fallen significantly, down by over 125,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions in the past three years.
"Recycling rates are also rising following a range of measures to encourage more household recycling. We are hopeful we will see further improvements in recycling rates as further reforms and substantial investment are implemented. We are expanding the range of materials that all Glasgow householders can recycle and our new material recycling facility at Queenslie will dramatically improve how we sort and separate recyclable waste."
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