The Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 require an organisation's waste to be separated into paper, card, plastic, metals and glass for collection. For 'organisation' read – any body which is not a household.
Those failing to comply with the new legislation which came into force on 1 January risk a maximum fine of £10,000.
Any fraction of your waste which can be recycled must be separated and collected for recycling. The responsibility is on you to make sure this happens. Some waste contractors or local authorities if you use them allow it to be co-mingled in one bin, others will require it to be separated into individual bins.
All food businesses producing more than 50kg of food waste each week must present it for separate collection, unless they are in a rural area. Food businesses which produce over 5 kg of food waste per week are to present that food waste for separate collection from 1 January 2016
Disposal of food waste to the sewer will also be banned from 1 January 2016.
The Scottish Government, with its agency Zero Waste Scotland, recommends businesses should audit waste to see where most of it comes from, and contact their waste contractors about how best to arrange separate collections.
If this is something you would like to find out more about, please contact Stewart Pettigrew of the Corporate Team on 0141 333 6750.