Scotsman Letters: What will happen to all those non-recyclable wind turbine blades?

Many wind farms are due for decommissioning and/or repowering, but what will happen to their huge non-recyclable blades?

Lyndsey Ward tells it as it is (“Rural citizens flung under Big Energy's gravy train”, Letters, July 30).

Many wind farms in Scotland are now due for decommissioning and/or repowering. Wind turbines are largely recyclable, but their huge blades are not, so what will happen to them?

The number of redundant blades will surely outnumber any efforts towards the ridiculous idea of using them as playground equipment and garden furniture, shedding vast amounts of microplastics into the environment in the process.

There is only one turbine blade recycling plant proposed near Beith at the moment which will be unable to cope with the sheer number of blades so will they be shipped abroad to be ground down for use in concrete, an energy intensive process or buried in landfill in Scotland?

Correspondence with the Scottish Government tells us that "In terms of private owners of wind turbines this is not a typical local authority waste matter. Councils generally deal with municipal waste only and this would not be categorised as such. A specialist waste contractor would need to be involved in disposal.”

What does that mean exactly and what has happened to the damaged blades which have already been replaced over the years and those which have fallen off or suffered fire damage such as those at Whitelee and Ardrossan Wind Farm?

There is a lot of secrecy surrounding this issue but one thing is certain, owners of wind turbines cannot be allowed to just make their own arrangements or Scotland could end up being one large wind turbine blade dump.

Aileen Jackson, Scotland Against Spin, Uplawmoor

​Not proven?

The recent scandalous injustice of the Andrew Malkinson case provides a lesson for those who wish to do away with the Scottish Not Proven (NP) verdict.

Requiring a jury to return a binary verdict in a case, such as his, where the evidence is finely balanced, is a demanding task. It can lead to the innocent being convicted and to the guilty being set free. This is especially so where there may be little factual evidence and the case rests upon one person’s word against another’s, as in many rape or sexual assault offences.

My view is that the Not Proven verdict should be retained – but should further evidence then emerge, regardless of whether or not it favoured the defendant, the case would be promptly reopened.

Had this system been operating in Malkinson’s case I suspect the initial verdict of the jury would have been Not Proven – because the evidence was weak and inconsistent – and then his name would have been cleared as soon as the additional DNA evidence came to light.

Barry Hughes, Edinburgh

SNP spending

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack's belated yet welcome tough stance regarding the SNP administration spending taxpayer cash rather than party funds to market separatism to the Scottish electorate will undoubtedly be welcomed by the majority in Scotland.

Yet why now? Nicola Sturgeon had previously produced similar papers, receiving comparatively scant criticism from Westminster. Jack's intervention now is interesting as it comes before a probable by-election in Rutherglen and Hamilton West and a general election next year.

We must assume he feels standing up against Humza Yousaf's cessationist posturing will translate into Tory votes at the ballot box. And doubtless, if not in Rutherglen, in more than a few constituencies, it will. Indeed, Jack's action mirrors Keir Starmer's increasingly strong anti-separatist position.

He has repeatedly said that – in the unlikely event Labour needs another party to achieve a working majority in the next Westminster parliament – he emphatically will not do a deal with the SNP (clearly preferring, if necessary, the Lib Dems), and that our 2014 democratically expressed wishes must be respected by Yousaf and the wider SNP establishment.

The majority in Scotland, opposed to the SNP's UK break-up dreams, will doubtless be delighted that upcoming elections have hardened yet further Tory and Labour anti-independence positions. Long may it continue.

Martin Redfern, Melrose, Roxburghshire

Coal still rules

Ilona Amos reports "UK and Scottish leaders are coming under unprecedented pressure to ramp up climate action". Joyce McMillan says "Policy on the transition to a low-carbon economy is a mess at both Scottish and UK levels" (both articles The Scotsman, July 28).

Every UK Tom, Dick and Harry and eco-demonstrator chants this climate mantra ad nauseum. Do these people not know that the UK only has 1.15 per cent of global emissions of which Scotland has a miniscule 0.15 per cent and that achieving UK net zero tomorrow would not make the slightest difference to global warming whilst other countries have already broken their COP promises.

Why are there no demonstrations in China, India, the Arab Emirates and the numerous gas, oil, petrol and coal-rich countries? Old King Coal is back on his throne. There are more than 2,200 coal-fired plants world-wide with hundreds more being built. UK net zero 2050 is economic suicide. CO2 is only 0.04 per cent of our atmosphere and barely 4 per cent of this originates from human activities.

Perhaps the climate scientists can let us know how to identify the good CO2 from nature from the bad CO2 from mankind.

Clark Cross, Linlithgow

‘Sick’ America

Former President Donald Trump says that America is “sick”. He's certainly right there. Any country with so many people willing to vote for him is, indeed, extremely sick.

W. A. Ross, Aberdeen

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