Under the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012, operators are now required to present key materials (plastic, glass, metal, card, paper and in some cases food) for recycling, or face a potential fine of £10,000.
Top 5 tips for managing waste and being legally compliant:
- Speak to your waste contractor and find out how they can help you comply. You may be able to offset some of the cost of your waste bills by renegotiating your contract
- Ensure your employees are trained on what goes where, to keep the waste streams uncontaminated. Our free online poster creator (http://www.resourceefficientscotland.com/PosterCreator) can help make sure your bins are labelled properly
- Consider what you’re currently throwing out, and think about how you can reduce this in the first instance
- If you’re putting plastic, glass, metals, paper or card in your general waste bin, you will now need to separate it for recycling
- If you produce over 50kg of food waste a week, you’ll need to separate this for recycling. A typical waste bin is 240 litres, and when about half filled with food waste weighs around 60kg. Rural businesses are exempt from food waste collection.
You may be familiar with the principle of the Waste Hierarchy. The idea is simply to prevent waste, rather than manage it.
Free resources to help you reduce your food waste:
- Kitchen Food Waste Management: www.resourceefficientscotland.com/resource/kitchen-food-waste-management
- Managing Food Waste – a Guide for Hospitality and Tourism: www.resourceefficientscotland.com/resource/managing-food-waste
- Making a waste-prevention plan: www.resourceefficientscotland.com/content/key-task/make-a-waste-prevention-plan
For one-to-one support, call free on 0808 808 2268, or go online for dedicated resources including FAQs, a free poster creator and for food businesses, a rural postcode finder.