[originaltext] In today’s throw-away society, dealing with the city’s growin

In today’s throw-away society, dealing with the city’s growing mountain of waste is an increasing challenge for the city council.
    Recently, Edinburgh is faced with the problem of disposing of about 250,000 tons of waste a year. Despite different ways to dispose of much of it in a green manner-largely through encouraging recycling-its aging facilities such as the Powderhall landfill do not have the ability to deal with it.
    The European Union (EU) has issued a new policy, regulating how such mountains of waste are to be disposed of. The five councils face fines around ￡18 million a year from 2013 if they don’t increase recycling levels and rely less on landfill. With this in mind, the councils got together with the idea of building a large plant for burning waste to burn half of the waste produced in their districts. But this plan fell apart after the change of target levels by a new UK government waste policy.
    After the plan was abandoned, a private company offered an alternative solution when it suggested opening a huge waste site near Portobello.
    Since Powderhall landfill site is supposed to close in 2015, it seemed necessary for the Edinburgh Council to accept the suggestion. But soon they turned it down-after 700 local objections reached them-because it would have meant hundreds of lorries a day making loud noise through heavily populated areas.
    That still leaves the council with a problem. By 2015, only 50% of 1995 levels of waste will be allowed to be sent to landfill. Even if recycling targets are met, there will still be a large amount of rubbish to be burnt up. Due to this, Edinburgh and Midlothian councils have now decided to work together to build a burning plant as time to find a solution is fast running out.
Questions 20 to 22 are based on the passage you have just heard.
20. What is the main way of handling waste in a green manner in Edinburgh?
21. What was the purpose of the five councils working out a plan to build a plant for burning waste?
22. What is the final decision of Edinburgh and Midlothian councils?