Overview

• The ban, set for December 31, 2025, will bar non-recyclable municipal waste—including food, paper, textiles and wood—from Scottish landfills
• Some local authorities have arranged temporary ‘bridging contracts’ with English waste operators to handle excess refuse in the ban’s first year
• Waste consultants warn that meeting demand could require a large fleet of lorries running daily to sites in Cumbria, Northumberland and Manchester
• Officials argue the ban will curb methane emissions—methane is roughly 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide—while critics caution that transport emissions could rise
• Environmental groups fear reliance on incineration may sideline investment in recycling infrastructure, while Scotland’s recycling rate lags at 43.5 percent