Scotland confirms landfill tax rise and extra £500,000 for Recycling Improvement Fund

The budget was passed 68 votes to 55 with one abstention.

From 1 April 2024, the standard rate will rise to £103.70 per tonne, from £102.10,  and the lower rate will rise 5 pence to £3.30 per tonne in line with planned UK tax increases. The rates set for the Scottish landfill tax are intended to serve as a financial incentive to support a more circular economy.

Income

Forecasts published alongside the budget estimate that the Scottish government expects to receive £74 million from the tax in 2023/24, before this falls to £58 million the following year down to just £16 million in 2028/29.

Scotland has also announced that it is set to impose a ban on sending biodegradable waste to landfill in 2026.

Recycling fund

In other areas of the budget the Scottish government has outlined an increase of £500,000 for Zero Waste Scotland’s Recycling Improvement Fund, bringing the budget up from £18.7m for 2023/2024 to £19.2m for 2024/2025.

The Recycling Improvement Fund is a five-year project to improve recycling infrastructure across Scotland and the funding programme is open to individual local authorities, groups of local authorities, and local authority-led partnerships involving other organisations, such as those from the third or private sectors.

To date, a total of £60 million has been awarded to 30 projects, from 21 local authorities across Scotland and the funded projects are expected to divert nearly 50,000 tonnes of material per year for recycling or reuse.

Councils that have been granted funding include Glasgow whom received a £21 million grant from the Recycling Improvement Fund last year. Part of the funding in the authority was set aside to fund a £17 million 50,000 tonne MRF (See letsrecycle.com story).