Processing Scots waste abroad is tipping point, we should recycle here
Diverting waste away from landfill and boosting recycling rates are, undoubtedly, the correct courses of action. Climate change is the biggest catastrophe facing the world and all countries, big and small, must rise to the challenge.
Glasgow has historically had a poor record on recycling and has upped its game of late. The city's recycling rate for 2024 was 30.6 per cent, up from 27.2 per cent in 2023, modest progress.
But our story today on how Glasgow's domestic waste is being reprocessed abroad is a cause for alarm. This country's infrastructure is so poor that our largest city is sending waste to locations such as Spain and Germany.
We should be recycling our own waste and yet we are having to boost recycling rates by sending paper and plastic to the continent. Such an approach fails on multiple fronts.
Glasgow council has made huge cuts over the years but is shelling out millions to reprocess waste overseas. Recycling is carried out in the name of the environment but the climate footprint of exporting waste must be huge.
And supporting jobs in Spain inevitably means Scottish firms who could construct their own reprocessing plants are losing out. SNP politicians talk a good game about how climate change presents a great opportunity for creating the jobs of the future.
But this talk is cheap when those jobs are overseas. Scottish waste should be processed in Scotland and this woeful practice must end.
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Legend's legacy
Sir Chris Hoy is already a hero to Scots for his sporting excellence and Olympic gold medal haul. But since being diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer he has taken on an even greater role in the life of our nation.
Working with his wife, Sarra, Chris is determined to save lives by making sure more men get checked for this disease. Caught early it can be treated and managed.
But as Sir Chris knows only too well, the disease can often go unnoticed and then becomes difficult and sometimes impossible to eradicate. That is why the cycling legend met with First Minister John Swinney and Health Secretary Neil Gray yesterday.
He wants GPs to proactively contact men known to be at higher risk – for instance, due to a family history of prostate cancer – to offer an early test.
That demand is reasonable, achievable and should be introduced as a matter of urgency. It will certainly save lives - and could be Chris's most enduring legacy.
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