FOI/202500491220 · FOI/EIR · partially withheld
Correspondence regarding landfill ban on biodegradable municipal waste: EIR release
Information requested
1. Please provide a copy of any correspondence, minutes of meetings or read out of telephone calls with SEPA over the ban of landfilling of municipal waste within the last 12 months.
2. Please provide a copy of any correspondence, minutes of meetings or read out of telephone calls with waste management providers and operators over the ban of landfilling of municipal waste within the last 12 months.
3. Please provide me a copy of any internal correspondence, briefing note or documentation relating to the lodging of GIQ s6w-41565 and the decision to make the announcement via GIQ.
Response
As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.
This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.
Question 1 I have included copies of the information you have requested below in Annex B.
On reviewing materials within the scope of your request some exceptions have been applied in line with the EIRs. You can find information on the exceptions that have been applied to information below in Annex A.
Question 2 I have included copies of the information you have requested below in Annex C.
On reviewing materials within the scope of your request some exceptions have been applied in line with the EIRs. You can find information on the exceptions that have been applied to information below in Annex A.
Question 3 I have included copies of the information you have requested below in Annex D.
On reviewing materials within the scope of your request some exceptions have been applied in line with the EIRs. You can find information on the exceptions that have been applied to information below in Annex A.
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Detected exemption language
We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA. This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes.