BIODEGRADABLE waste from Clackmannanshire will not be landfilled from next month, but shipped to Sweden to be incinerated, raising alarms for some at the council.

A "short-term" solution, with a contract already signed by a council officer under delegated authority, will see biodegradable municipal waste sent to a Polmont facility as a landfill ban is to come into force in 2021.

However, once recyclable materials are recovered, the rubbish will be turned into so-called refuse derived fuel, baled and shipped to Sweden where it will be used in combined heat and power plants, documents tabled at last week's Place Committee meeting revealed.

Zero Waste Europe, an organisation similar to its Scottish namesake, this month came out against waste-to-energy incineration, highlighting evidence which suggests this method "has significantly more adverse climate impacts than conventional electricity generation from fossil fuels".

The local UNISON branch hit-out over the issue.

Its branch secretary Pam Robertson said: "There are very serious concerns about the use of incinerators that are as bad as fossil fuel burning power stations because they release vast quantities of CO2 and other pollutants into the atmosphere.

"Clackmannanshire Council recently decided to cut back on its recycling services for residents and now we've signed a contract to send our waste abroad to feed incinerators.

"In our opinion these decisions run contradictory to local authority commitments outlined in the Climate Change (Scotland Act) 2009 and it not the act of a council intent on playing its part in tackling climate change."

In the council chamber, Labour members said they could not support the paper tabled on the day, adding to their frustration was the fact that they were only asked to note that a decision was already made for them.

Cllr Dave Clark, Labour Group leader, raised concerns over not just the environment but transparency, saying the discussion is only taking place after the call was made.

He also said he would write to Friends of the Earth to open a dialogue on environmental issues in the Wee County and beyond.

During the meeting, committee chair and SNP representative Cllr Craig Holden said a paper would come back to the chamber on the issue sometime in November.

His colleague and vice-convener Cllr Donald Balsillie explained waste management is a very complex issue and that the "short-term" contract, which is for two years with the possibility it could be extended to four in total, would allow the council "breathing space" to find a solution on the long run.

Later he added the council is "wholeheartedly behind the Scottish Government's commitment to ending the practice of sending biodegradable municipal waste to landfill".

The landfill ban has been coming for several years, according to Green MSP Mark Ruskell.

He added: "But what we are seeing is a last-minute effort by councils across Scotland to pass on their waste to mega incinerators across Europe.

"Zero Waste Scotland, as a government agency, should be doing all they can to reduce non-recyclable waste, not acting as a broker for companies who profit from selling this rubbish on."

A spokeswoman for Clackmannanshire Council said: "Most recent figures for 2017 show that in Clackmannanshire over 59 per cent of household waste is already recycled, and this follows our guidelines which set out the options for dealing with waste in order of preference. Waste prevention –not producing waste in the first place is the preferred option followed by reuse and then recycling. Next comes energy recovery from waste (including EfW) with landfill at the bottom as the least preferred option. 

"We are committed to meeting the requirements of the National Household Waste Recycling Charter which the Council signed up to in 2016 and in meeting future recycling targets. The move to secure EfW capacity to treat residual waste is a short term solution at present in order that Clackmannanshire Council is in a position to comply with the 2021 biodegradable municipal waste landfill ban and therefore reduce the financial risk to the council.  EfW capacity will progress in parallel with ongoing work to maximise the reuse and recycling of materials - not in place of it.

"All material sent to for disposal is initially processed via a Material Reclamation Facility (MRF) where all recyclable materials are recovered. This is a significant improvement over existing landfill practices.

"Energy from waste facilities being used under this short-term contract are all combined Heat and Power (CHP) facilities where not only is electricity generated, but heat is used via district heating networks. Incineration also produces considerably less CO2 emissions that landfill."