Scotland 'will send its rubbish to be dumped in England': Up to 100 truckloads will be driven across the border when landfill ban is brought in, experts say

Daily Mail​

16-06-2025

As many as 100 truckloads piled with rubbish will have to travel from Scotland to England each day to be dumped due to a new landfill ban, experts are warning.
The Scottish government is set to bar 'black bag' waste from being buried at landfill sites from this December 31 onwards - but analysts say the country lacks enough incinerators and other facilities to cope with the knock-on effects.
Almost all domestic and commercial waste will be covered by the new restrictions which have been mooted by SNP ministers for years but only now being brought in.
The ban was initially scheduled for 2021, only to be delayed amid the Covid-19 pandemic and warnings firms were not yet ready.
But now critics say there has been insufficient progress in terms of how Scotland will deal with its landfill once the new system sets in - meaning rubbish will have to be diverted to England as well as Scandinavia.
Waste management industry veteran David Balmer, of consultants ERS Remediation, told MailOnline there were worries Scotland could be left with 'rubbish piling up in the streets like in Birmingham '.
The West Midlands city has become a byword for dumped garbage in recent months, with p iles of waste littering the streets during a long running bin workers' strike.
'Black bag' waste from households and companies should no longer be buried in landfill, according to the Scottish government ban coming into force on December 31.
Up to 100 waste trucks each day could need sending from Scotland to England, experts say
The BBC's Disclosure programme has now suggested that up to 100 daily truckloads of waste could need moving from Scotland into England as a result.
The proportion of household waste that is recycled across Scotland currently stands at 43.5 per cent, according to the latest official government figures - only marginally up on 41.6 per cent back in 2013.
The most recent equivalent figures elsewhere in the UK are 44 per cent for England, 51.1 per cent for Northern Ireland and 64.7 per cent for Wales.
Among the materials which will now be ruled out of landfill disposal in Scotland are non-recyclable municipal waste, food, paper, textiles and wood.
Supporters of the restrictions highlight how braking down such rubbish produces greenhouse gas methane, about 28 times more hazardous than carbon dioxide.
But experts say the country does not yet have enough energy-from-waste incinerators up and running, with eight operational at the moment but applications for planning permission for others still pending.
Campaign group Zero Waste Scotland forecasts a 'capacity gap' amounting to a surplus 600,000 tonnes of rubbish in the first year following the new ban.
Local authorities and commercial waste firms in Scotland have been contacting counterparts in England to secure 'bridging contracts', the BBC reported.
That could see Scottish excess waste sent across the border to landfill sites in English locations such as in Cumbria, Northumberland and Manchester.
Ms Balmer has suggested that between 80 and 100 truckloads each day, seven days a week, could be needed to transport waste from Scotland to England ahead.
He told MailOnline today: 'The problem is that not all the facilities we need have managed to get to completion before the new ban is implemented - not necessarily the fault of contractors or councils, it's just the system the UK has.
'But now Scotland finds itself with especially unenviable problems - nowhere for all its rubbish to go except down to England, and that then adds more stresses to England's own system.
'The last thing anyone wants to see is waste piling up in the streets, like in Birmingham - hopefully not, but we're working through what the scenarios could be. We're probably looking at about 18 months to two years to catch up.'
Meanwhile, other experts have cautioned that sufficient transport might not even be available either.
Alasdair Meldrum, director of waste management consultants Albion Environmental, said: 'We've probably not got the trucks and vehicles to actually move it.
'You've got the environmental impact of all that transport. It's nonsensical, but the people who have invested in incinerators are saying, "We've invested all this money because of the ban". So, we're stuck in a really hard place.'
Sir Keir Starmer's Labour government has also indicated a desire for a similar block on biodegradable waste in landfill, but no such measures for south of the Scottish border have yet been tabled.
Colin Church, chair of an independent review looking at incineration in Scotland, told the BBC that a shift towards incinerators was the correct choice.
He said: 'It's probably the best thing that we can do with waste, with our current levels of technology, and so capturing some energy from that is a good idea.'
Yet eco-groups have warned that council deals guaranteeing waste be sent to incinerators could distract from better investment in recycling.
Kim Pratt, from campaigning organisation Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: 'Incineration in Scotland is out of control.
'There have been incinerators built in Aberdeen, in Falkirk - there's one this year that's going to be built in North Ayrshire as well.
'All of these incinerators have communities locally who are opposing them.'
And waste campaigner Laura Young said: 'One of the worries is these are expensive facilities - expensive to run, big contracts involved in this - and it means that we need to utilise them. We built them so we need to use them.'
The Scottish government has pointed to anti-waste measures such as bans on single use vapes, new charges due to be levied on disposable cups and a proposed deposit-return initiative for cans and plastic bottles.
It said the 'vast majority' of councils had measures in hand ahead of the landfill ban.
The government also insisted it would 'work closely with local authorities and sector bodies to monitor and review any related issues which may arise as the date of the ban approaches'.
The ruling authority added: 'Any export of waste should only ever be viewed as a short-term solution.'
A spokesperson for campaign group Zero Waste Scotland said: 'The Scottish Government's ban on biodegradable municipal waste to landfill has potential to help Scotland reduce our contribution to the climate crisis, as well as help drive up reuse and recycling.
'Tackling our throwaway culture is a priority for Zero Waste Scotland, and we will continue to work with the Scottish Government to evolve a circular economy in which goods and materials are valued and kept in high-value use.'