The Scottish Government has published a new report that provides a detailed overview of Scotland’s current and planned waste reprocessing infrastructure. This is a significant and timely piece of work that helps clarify where Scotland stands in terms of its capacity to process waste domestically — and what more is needed to support the country’s transition to a circular economy.
What the Report Covers
The report focuses specifically on waste reprocessing facilities — that is, sites where constituent materials from waste are processed into new raw materials or products. Importantly, the scope excludes landfill, energy from waste (EfW), most transfer stations, MRFs, and reuse or repair facilities. This makes the data particularly relevant for understanding the infrastructure supporting actual material recovery and circularity.
Using publicly available datasets — primarily SEPA’s ‘Waste from All Sources’ database and the SEPA Site Capacity tool — the report provides a baseline assessment of reprocessing infrastructure for 15 distinct material types. These include:
- Food waste
- Garden waste
- Wood
- Paper and card
- Glass
- Plastics
- Textiles
- Metals
- Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)
- And several others
For each material type, the report outlines:
- How much of that material arises as waste in Scotland
- How much reprocessing capacity exists within Scotland
- Whether there appears to be a capacity gap
- Observations on barriers to development and opportunities for investment or expansion
This information is vital for policymakers, planners, investors, and anyone involved in the waste and resources sector. It provides an evidence base to support infrastructure development, investment planning, and policy design aligned with circular economy goals.
Where to Focus
While the entire document offers useful insight, pages 41 onwards provide a particularly accessible summary, with material-by-material breakdowns that highlight where Scotland is well-resourced — and where there are gaps that will need to be addressed.
Access the Report
You can read the full report and supporting documents on the Scottish Government website:
Waste Reprocessing Infrastructure in Scotland
https://www.gov.scot/publications/waste-reprocessing-infrastructure-scotland/documents/
This is a valuable resource for understanding how Scotland’s reprocessing capacity matches up to its waste generation — and where work is still needed to build a truly circular economy.