Households in Scotland recycled 44 per cent of their waste last year, official data has revealed.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) described this as a “small rise” but said the figure “could be much higher”.
Each person in the country generated an average of 0.42 tonnes of household waste in 2024, the latest statistics showed.
Of that, 0.19 tonnes was recycled, 0.19 tonnes was diverted away from landfill through other means such as incineration while the remainder was sent to landfill.
Ross Haggart, chief operating officer for regulation, business and environment at SEPA, said: “Research from Zero Waste Scotland shows that around 52 per cent of what goes into general household bins could be recycled, including key materials like food waste, paper, cardboard and plastic.
“By making better use of existing recycling schemes and ensuring key recyclables don’t end up in general waste bins, we will see a real change in how much residual waste needs to be incinerated.
“What is clear is that in order to reduce the need for energy-from-waste facilities, we must all strive to reduce the waste we produce and increase our recycling as much as possible.”
Separate Whitehall-published figures last year revealed that Wales led the way within the UK with a 56.9 per cent recycling rate in 2022, ahead of Northern Ireland on 49.2 per cent, England on 43.4 per cent and Scotland last with 42.1 per cent.
