What the Act requires
Scotland has had a household recycling code of practice since 2015, and a charter that councils could sign up to. Both were voluntary. The Scottish Government's own assessment is that only a third of local authorities fully comply with it, which is why the bin colours guide on this site runs to a dozen pages.
The Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024 changes that. It inserts a new section 44ZZA into the Environmental Protection Act 1990 requiring ministers to publish a code setting out the standards expected of councils and the steps they must take, and it makes adherence mandatory.
The intention is consistent, accessible services across the country, while allowing for the fact that a rural Highland collection round and a tenement street in Glasgow cannot be run identically.
- Statutory code under the Circular Economy (Scotland) Act 2024
- Mandatory for all 32 councils
- Replaces a voluntary code only a third fully follow
- Consultation ran 25 March to 17 June 2025
- Draft code due for consultation by end of 2026
- Plastic film at kerbside by 31 March 2027
What the 2025 consultation asked
The consultation that ran from 25 March to 17 June 2025 focused on two specific questions: whether the rural exemption from food waste collection should be revised, and whether councils should be required to collect textiles at the kerbside.
It drew 60 responses, 26 from individuals and 34 from organisations. On textiles the answer was cautious: 37% supported a statutory kerbside textile service and 53% opposed it, citing cost, the space households would need for another container, and the practicalities in rural and island areas. No Scottish council currently collects textiles at the kerbside, and our post on textile waste in Scotland explains what that means for a clear-out.
The government has been clear that this was one phase of a longer co-design with councils and that impact assessments follow before anything is fixed. The draft code itself is the next public document, promised for consultation by the end of 2026.
Bins full before the code arrives?
We clear the overflow, sorted by stream, anywhere in Scotland. Photo quote in minutes.
The one date already fixed: plastic film
One commitment is already firm. Household collections of recyclable plastic film and flexible packaging must begin by 31 March 2027. That is carrier bags, bread bags, crisp packets and the film lids off ready meals, all of which currently go in general waste in every Scottish council.
It is a bigger operational change than it sounds, because film is light, contaminates easily and needs sorting infrastructure that is only now being built. Our page on plastic film recycling in 2027 tracks it, and every bin guide on this site will change when it lands.
Alongside it sits the deposit return scheme from 1 October 2027, which will pull cans and plastic bottles out of the same bins. Between the two, what goes in a Scottish recycling bin in 2028 will look quite different from today.
What it means for you
In the short term, nothing. Your bins are your council's bins and the rules in our guides to why bin colours differ in every Scottish council still apply. The code is not yet published, let alone in force.
In the medium term, expect more consistency: the same core materials collected everywhere, clearer rules on what goes where, and less variation between neighbouring councils. What the code cannot do is make a kerbside bin take a sofa or a load of garden waste, which is where the council bulky uplift or a carrier comes in.
For the things the bins were never going to take, our bulky waste collection and rubbish removal services sort loads by stream at the transfer station, which is the same principle the code is trying to bring to the kerb.
