The Waste (Scotland) Regulations will require all businesses to separate paper and card, plastic, metal and glass for recycling by January 2014. Businesses that produce more than 50kg of food waste per week will also need to separate this for collection.
Householders are also set to see changes as a result of the regulations as councils will increase kerbside services to include separate collections for paper and card, plastic, metal, glass and, with the exception of rural areas, food too.
To support the changes required by the regulations, Zero Waste Scotland will be investing £8 million in councils and commercial waste management firms this year, including £5 million to support the roll-out of new food waste collections and £750,000 to help increase the availability of collection services to Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs.)