All businesses in Scotland now have a legal responsibility to separate recyclables including paper, plastic, card, metal and glass.

The Waste (Scotland) Regulations, which came into force on 1 January, also require food businesses in urban areas producing more than 50kg per week of food waste to implement food recycling schemes.

The move will support the Scottish Government’s target of 70% recycling and just 5% of waste going to landfill by 2025, according to Zero Waste Scotland (ZWS).

Companies risk fines of up to £10,000 if they fail to be legally compliant.

Other new regulations include:

• local authorities to provide a minimum recycling service to householders; waste contractors to provide collection and treatment services which deliver high quality recycling.
• metal, plastic, glass, paper, card or food collected separately for recycling is banned from going to incineration or landfill
• new incinerators must ensure that metals and dense plastics have been removed from residual municipal waste prior to incineration
• food businesses in urban areas which produce over 5 kg of food waste per week have to present the waste for separate collection from 1 January 2016

Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead, said: “The Waste (Scotland) Regulations represent a major step in delivering our vision of a zero waste Scotland.”