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Commercial waste Scotland
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Commercial waste collection Scotland
Scottish waste regulations require businesses to recycle glass, metals, plastics, paper, cardboard, and food waste separately.
Here we highlight the most popular commercial waste collection services in Scotland:
General business waste Scotland
A significant portion of commercial waste remains non-recyclable, including single-use plastics and contaminated items such as greasy cardboard boxes. General business waste collections gather black bin bags and transport commercial waste to Scotland’s energy recovery facilities.
Commercial cardboard recycling Scotland
As a sparsely populated country, Scotland’s offices rely on e-commerce deliveries for basic office supplies, resulting in significant volumes of cardboard packaging waste. Scotland’s commercial cardboard recycling services offer a low-cost collection service to manage cardboard waste.
Commercial food waste collection Scotland
Food Waste Scotland, a partnership between the Binn Group and Earnside Energy, offers national coverage for commercial food recycling across Scotland. The collected food waste is processed at an anaerobic digestion facility, where it is converted into renewable biogas.
Commercial paper recycling Scotland
Highlander Shredding provides paper and cardboard recycling services throughout Scotland. They offer both general commercial paper recycling and confidential waste shredding services.
Commercial glass recycling Scotland
Ekko Glass, a specialist in glass recycling, utilises advanced recycling technology to transform used glass into high-quality recycled glass. They maintain a large collection network across Scotland.
Hazardous waste disposal Scotland
In Scottish waste legislation, hazardous waste is categorised as “special waste” and must be disposed of with a ‘special waste consignment note’. Walsh Brothers offers a range of hazardous waste collection services across Scotland.
Commercial waste collection providers in Scotland
Scotland is a vast country, and finding a commercial waste collection provider that offers regular collections in your area can be challenging.
Although several trusted commercial waste collection providers in Scotland exist, most serve only specific towns and cities. Our business waste experts have summarised the top waste providers in Scotland, detailing exactly where they offer collections.
💡There are some smaller waste providers that operate exclusively in Scotland’s largest cities. For more information, refer to our guides on Glasgow and Edinburgh commercial waste collection.
Cireco
Headquartered in Fife, Cireco Scotland offers complete resource management services. They provide expert waste and recycling solutions to businesses and local authorities and offer household collections for Fife Council. Cireco also offer all new business customers with a free waste audit.
Serves: Fife, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Sterling & Perth
Binn Group
The Binn Group is one of Scotland’s largest independent waste providers. They own and operate one of the most integrated resource recovery complexes in the UK, which includes a Material Reclamation Facility and an Anaerobic Digester at their EcoPark in Perth.
Serves: Perthshire, Stirlingshire, Fife, Dundee, Angus and Central Scotland.
Biffa
Biffa has a significant presence in Scotland with locations across Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Inverness. Annually, Biffa Scotland collects over 4 million tonnes of waste. Additionally, Biffa is a sponsor of the Scottish Women’s Football League and Cup competitions.
Serves: Near universal Scotland coverage
Veolia
Veolia plays various roles in enhancing waste management and ecological transformation in Scotland, focusing on innovative approaches to waste handling. As part of this technological drive, Veolia employs biogas recovery systems at their Scottish waste facilities.
Serves: Near universal Scotland coverage
NWH Group
NWH Group is a family-owned waste and recycling business headquartered in Midlothian. They operate state-of-the-art commercial recycling centres in Edinburgh, Dundee, and Glasgow. These centres also offer third-party disposal services for businesses looking to transport their commercial waste.
Serves: Near universal Scotland coverage
Enva
Enva is a leading resource recovery provider, offering various hazardous and non-hazardous waste collection services. They operate a fleet of state-of-the-art waste collection vehicles from their 10 locations across Scotland.
Serves: Near universal Scotland coverage.
Munro Highland
Munro Highland offers cost-effective commercial recycling and general waste collection services across a wide area in the North of Scotland. Their services include specialist waste collections such as asbestos, plasterboard, gypsum, and electronic equipment recycling.
Serves: Highlands and Moray, including Inverness.
EIS Waste
EIS operates two material recovery facilities in Aberdeenshire. Their fleet of 30 waste vehicles serves the City of Aberdeen and North East Scotland. EIS provides comprehensive waste management and recycling services to the Port of Aberdeen, Scotland’s largest berthage port.
Serves: North East Scotland
JM Murdoch
JM Murdoch is a family-owned waste and haulage business based in Neilston, East Renfrewshire, serving Central Scotland for over 50 years. Their trade waste collection services encompass all forms of recycling.
Serves: Glasgow, Paisley and Central Scotland
Commercial waste collection with local Scottish councils
Most Scottish councils provide a paid-for kerbside commercial waste collection service. The advantages of these services include:
- Councils do not charge VAT, which is beneficial if your business is not VAT-registered.
- It’s convenient for businesses to dispose of waste alongside regular domestic collections.
However, it is important to acknowledge the limitations of these services:
- It is not possible to tailor the days of your regular pick-ups.
- Some councils require you to purchase your own commercial waste bins.
- Options for segregated recycling are limited.
- Council commercial waste quotes can be uncompetitive.
Our waste experts have compiled the following list of waste services offered by Scotland’s 32 local authorities.
| Local council waste page | Commercial waste service | Our full guide |
|---|---|---|
| Aberdeen City Council | Yes - Waste, recycling and food collections | Commercial waste Aberdeen |
| Aberdeenshire Council | Yes - Waste and recycling | |
| Angus Council | Yes - Universal waste and recycling, limited food waste collections | |
| Argyll and Bute Council | Yes - Waste and recycling | |
| City of Edinburgh Council | No service | Commercial waste Edinburgh |
| Clackmannanshire Council | Yes - Waste, recycling and food collections | |
| Comhairle nan Eilean Siar | Yes - Waste and recycling | |
| Dumfries and Galloway Council | Yes - Waste, recycling and food collections | |
| Dundee City Council | Yes - Waste and recycling | |
| East Ayrshire Council | Yes - Waste, recycling and food collections | |
| East Dunbartonshire Council | Yes - Waste and recycling | |
| East Lothian Council | Yes - Waste and recycling | |
| East Renfrewshire Council | Yes - Waste, recycling and food collections | |
| Falkirk Council | Yes - Mixed recycling only | |
| Fife Council | No service | |
| Glasgow City Council | Yes - Waste, recycling and food collections | Commercial waste Glasgow |
| Inverclyde Council | Yes - Waste and recycling | |
| Midlothian Council | Yes - Waste and recycling | |
| North Ayrshire Council | Yes - Waste, recycling and food collections | |
| North Lanarkshire Council | Yes - Waste, recycling and food collections | |
| Orkney Islands Council | Yes - Waste and recycling | |
| Perth and Kinross Council | Yes - Waste, recycling and food collections | |
| Renfrewshire Council | Yes - Waste, recycling and food collections | |
| Scottish Borders Council | Yes - Waste, recycling and food collections | |
| Shetland Islands Council | Yes - Waste and recycling | |
| South Ayrshire Council | Yes - Waste, recycling and food collections | |
| South Lanarkshire Council | No service | |
| Stirling Council | Yes - Waste, recycling and food collections | |
| The Highland Council | Yes - Waste, recycling and food collections | |
| The Moray Council | Yes - Waste and recycling | |
| West Dunbartonshire Council | Yes - Waste, recycling and food collections | |
| West Lothian Council | No service |
For more information about the commercial waste services each local council offers, follow the link provided.
Commercial waste collection Perth
In this section, we’d like to highlight the strong approach to commercial waste in the Scottish city of Perth.
The Perth and Kinross Council employs a dedicated team of Commercial Waste and Recycling Officers who conduct zero-waste compliance audits for local small businesses.
Find out more about Perth and Kinross Council’s commercial waste offerings here.
Waste regulations for Scottish businesses
In 2012, the Scottish Parliament approved the Waste (Scotland) Regulations, which imposed additional responsibilities on businesses in Scotland that produce waste.
💡The Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 is a piece of devolved waste legislation, but Scottish businesses must also adhere to UK waste regulations.
Below, we’ll summarise the key points of Scottish commercial waste regulation.
Commercial recycling Scotland
Any business in Scotland producing the following waste types must store them separately and arrange for their recycling:
- Glass
- Tin and aluminium cans
- Recyclable plastics
- Paper
- Cardboard
- Food waste of over 5kg per week*
*Businesses in rural locations are exempt from the requirement to arrange for collections of food waste.
Commercial waste bins Scotland
Scottish legislation provides specific guidance for the storage of each of the above recyclable waste streams:
- Store each waste stream separately to avoid cross-contamination.
- Store waste in a secure location.
- Use suitable storage containers that are clearly labelled.
- Use covers and lids to prevent waste from being blown away.
- Use waterproof covers or lids to prevent contaminated runoff.
Scottish commercial waste providers rent compliant commercial waste bins as part of their collection contracts.
Waste transfer notes
Scottish businesses must retain a waste transfer note for all waste collections and keep these records for two years.
For regular waste collections, Scottish commercial waste providers will issue an annual waste transfer note, often referred to as a season ticket.
Scotland’s plans for landfill waste
From 31 December 2025 the Scottish Parliament will ban biodegradable waste going to landfill and target reducing overall landfill waste to less than 5%.
Scotland has already made massive progress in halving the percentage of overall waste going to landfill to 26.1% in 2021, primarily driven by a shift to using incinerators.
Biodegradable material causes significant environmental harm as the degrading waste produces methane – a potent greenhouse gas. The ban is intended to eliminate this environmental impact as part of Scotland’s wider circular economy plans.
Scotland’s plan envisages the use of waste technologies such as mechanical and biological treatment, which converts biodegradable waste into chemically stable compounds that can safely be included within landfill waste.
💡The current legislation for banning biodegradable waste disposal at landfill applies to council-provided waste services, but the Scottish Government intends to extend this to all commercial waste collections.