Look out if you’re currently throwing out food waste with your general rubbish – you could be heading for for a hefty fine.
A change in the law being introduced on 1st January 2016 means that any business producing more than 5kg of food waste each week will have to separate out their leftovers and out of date items and recycle them instead of dumping them in their wheelie bin to be sent to landfill.
The previous threshold stood at 50kg, meaning that many retailers are poised to be caught up in the new legislation.
If businesses don’t start recycling their food waste then the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency can hit them with an on-the-spot fine of £300, while repeat offenders face penalties of up to £10,000.
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and the Environment Richard Lochhead said: “It will no longer be acceptable to put food waste in residual waste bins, so now is the time to think about the amount of food waste being produced and how it can be reduced – helping to save businesses money.
“Collecting food waste separately avoids food going into landfill where it emits harmful methane emissions; and separately collected food waste can be put to good use through processes such as composting or anaerobic digestion. I recently set out my intention to introduce a food waste reduction target Scotland, so there is no time like the present to start making changes.”
Zero Waste Scotland, the organisation setup to deliver the Scottish Government’s Zero Waste Plan, estimates that businesses could save £192m a year by reducing their food waste.
