As the Scottish landfill ban deadline approaches at the end of 2025, SEPA has provided a temporary reprieve from its effect to make sure the industry is ready.
Introduced by the Scottish Government as part of its Zero Waste Plan and circular economy goals, the ban will prevent biodegradable municipal waste (BMW) going to landfill from 31 December 2025. It will apply to almost all commercial and domestic waste which has not been separated out for recycling, however there is concern that the waste industry is not ready with not enough operational energy from waste (EfW) incinerators to deal with the waste that will be diverted from landfill.
In recognition of this, SEPA issued a temporary regulatory position statement (TRPS) on 29 October 2025 confirming that they will not seek to enforce the ban until 1 January 2028.
The ban will still come into effect at the end of this year, but waste producers and managers will be able to apply for a six-month exemption from the ban, which can be renewed repeatedly until the end of 2027, when the ban will come into effect in full. SEPA must be notified in writing before waste producers and managers transfer the waste to landfill and can only do so once they receive confirmation of satisfactory receipt of the notification from SEPA. Landfill operators can only accept BMW where they have been provided with both the notification and the acceptance (and must retain copies for 2 years).
Comment
Given the waste industry is acknowledged to not be ready for the ban coming into effect, the TRPS is a welcome step from SEPA. TRPSs are not unusual and can be an important tool at SEPA’s disposal to ensure that changes in regulation or environmental protection can be achieved as smoothly as possible. It would be in no-one’s interest to enforce the landfill ban while there is not enough capacity in the system to dispose of the diverted waste.
SEPA’s intention[NC1] is that additional EfW plants will come online in 2026 and 2027 to address the current limited capacity, before the ban comes into full effect in 2028.
There is a lot riding therefore on the handful of EfW incinerators that are under construction or currently consented. Since the Scottish Government’s moratorium on consents for new EfW plants since June 2022 (and reinforced by the planning policies in the National Planning Framework 4 subsequently adopted), if any of the consented schemes do not come forward, there may still be significant pressures on the waste industry when the TRPS period ends in 2027.
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