Environmental Regulation and Business Strategy in UK and Scotland Essay

Environmental Regulation and Business Strategy in UK and Scotland - Essay Example The plan also espouses the maximization of the remaining waste by utilizing its energy through waste-to-energy incineration plants. Electrical/and or heat energy can be produced by burning or incineration of wastes (Scottish Environment Protection Agency, 2011). This is an aspect of concern because the burning of solid and liquid material will produce mixtures of solid and gaseous emission like heavy metals, dioxins, particulates, ash residues, and acidic gases. An incineration plant refers to the technical unit and equipment that are dedicated for the purpose of burning or thermal treatment of waste material and in so doing, produce combustion heat (Council Directive 2008/1/EC of the European Parliament and of the European Council ). The definition for the incineration plant includes the site, incineration lines, waste reception, waste storage, fuel and air supplies, post-treatment areas for exhaust gases, waste and wastewater, and all other facilities and devices for control and mo nitoring the operations in incineration. Incineration of waste is achieved by oxidation, pyrolysis, and gasification. Strictly speaking, the energy produced by the incineration of waste materials cannot be considered renewable energy, but it can replace and supplement the energy that is sourced from fossil fuels like oil and coil, natural gas, and other renewable sources. As stated by the Scottish Planning Policy 6 on renewable energy, the energy derived from waste can help Scotland meet its targets for increasing electricity derived from renewable energy sources (Scottish Development Executive Department, 1997). Energy from waste is therefore considered a part of the response to climate change towards sustainable development. The Renewables Obligation gives incentives to suppliers of electricity to obtain electrical energy from renewable sources (Renewables Obligation, 2007). In Scotland, the Renewables Obligation, and the Renewables Obligation Order were enforced on April 2002. Th e schemes were introduced by the Scottish Executive and the Department of Enterprise and Trade, and are administered by the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority. The Renewable Orders set the amount of electricity from renewable sources to 5.5% and 6.7% in 2005-2006, and 2006-2007 respectively. In 2009, the Scottish government published the Renewables Action Plan, which committed the country to achieving 20% energy coming from renewable sources by 2020, which also meant that there must be a large increase in the energy derived from the heat (11% increase) and transport sectors (10% increase) (The Scottish Government, 2009). In the Renewables Obligation (Scotland) Amendment Order of 2011 which was enforced in April 2011, waste materials were already included as renewable energy sources. According to SEPA, incineration can be considered compatible with high recycling rates, which is also highly dependent on the segregation of wastes. Energy can be recovered from residual waste that ca nnot be recycled due to economic and technical reasons. Despite the economic crisis, the practice of waste incineration has risen worldwide (ecoprog/Fraunhofer UMSICHT, 2010). In the last decade, the annual global capacity of the incineration plants increased from 180 to 350 million tonnes. This can further rise by 20% in the next five years. It is further expected that with landfill sites decreasing, new plants will be