In Scotland, the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 came into force on 1 January. These establish a legal duty on every business, regardless of size, to separate metal, plastic, paper, card and glass for recycling, as well as banning these separated materials from being sent to landfill or incinerators. The devolved government is also introducing a charge for single use carrier bags from October 2014.
What are the new duties?
The regulations introduce a number of important new requirements:
- Businesses to present metal, plastic, glass, paper and card for separate collection from 01 January 2014.
- Businesses (except rural businesses) which produce over 50kg of food waste per week to present that food waste for separate collection from 2014.
- Businesses (except rural businesses) which produce over 5kg of food waste per week to present that food waste for separate collection from 2016.
- The use of macerators to dispose of food waste in the sewer system will be banned from 1 January 2016, except for domestic premises and food producers in rural areas.
- Local Authorities to provide a minimum recycling service to householders.
- Waste contractors to provide collection and treatment services which enable compliance and deliver high quality recycling from 2014.
- A ban on any metal, plastic, glass, paper and card collected separately for recycling from going to incineration or landfill from 2014.
- All new incinerators must ensure that metals and dense plastics have been removed from residual municipal waste prior to incineration.
- A ban on biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill by the end of 2020.
For more information, please follow the link: Waste Scotland Regulations (2012)
Source: The Environmentalist and NetRegs