SCOTTISH MINISTERS have come under fierce attack for giving the go-ahead to a controversial waste incinerator near Perth, paving the way for others around the country.

Companies and local authorities are planning up to 10 new incinerators to make energy from waste and cut the amount of rubbish dumped as landfill. But environmentalists have branded the plants "cheap and nasty" and said they will jeopardise efforts to reduce waste and increase recycling.

The first incinerator has been proposed by the waste company Sita UK for Binn Farm, near Glenfarg in Perthshire. Despite widespread local opposition it was approved by Perth and Kinross Council, then referred to the Scottish government. Ministers have decided not to intervene, effectively allowing the proposal to proceed.

The decision has angered Green campaigners, who fear it presages an environmental climb-down by the SNP.

"This leaves the Scottish government's waste policy under a dark cloud," said Stuart Hay, head of policy at Friends of the Earth Scotland. "We are alarmed that this may be the first of many proposals that threaten to undermine Scotland's efforts to recycle. Large-scale incinerators are the cheap and nasty way of dealing with Scotland's waste."

The Binn Farm incinerator is designed to burn 60,000 tonnes of waste a year, generating enough electricity for 7900 households. But it was opposed by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) because the heat it produced would be wasted, instead of being used to warm nearby buildings.

As a "waste to energy" plant Binn Farm would be only 22% efficient, Sepa argued, and would breach planning guidelines for waste management. Almost 500 local residents oppose the plant.

Another large incinerator is being proposed by the waste firm Viridor for its Oxwellmains landfill site near Dunbar in East Lothian. Designed to burn 450,000 tonnes of rubbish a year from Edinburgh and the Lothians, it has also sparked concern from local residents.

Plans for other incinerators are being considered by local authorities around the country, but details of the plants and proposed sites have so far been kept secret.

Dan Barlow, head of policy with WWF Scotland, was "very worried" that Binn Farm had been given the go-ahead. "With the government currently considering a rash of new incinerators, this could be the first of many," he said.

Green MSP Robin Harper pointed out that many of the plants would have be built on private finance initiatives, which the SNP opposed. Giving the go-ahead to Binn Farm "seriously undermined" the SNP's manifesto promise of zero waste, he said.

"A sustainable Scotland is not about going with the flow of business as usual. It's about delivering policy through leadership. Ministers appear to be failing to do this, as the Sustainable Development Commission highlighted in its report last week."

The commission, set up to advise ministers on green issues, concluded in its reports that "There is a need for stronger, more visible and consistent leadership on sustainable development".

The Scottish government stressed that it "aspired" to achieve a zero-waste Scotland. "We are considering the best ways of doing this, and have not yet reached a decision on the role energy from waste may play," said a spokesman.