What the tax is
The Scottish Aggregates Tax is a devolved tax on the commercial exploitation of primary aggregate in Scotland: rock that is quarried, gravel and sand that is dug, and then sold or used. It commenced on 1 April 2026, replacing the UK Aggregates Levy north of the border, and it is administered by Revenue Scotland alongside landfill tax.
The rate is £2.16 a tonne. That is modest on its own, but the design is what matters: recycled and secondary aggregate, the crushed concrete and brick that comes out of demolition and excavation, is outside the tax. The Scottish Government's stated aim is to encourage recycled materials and circular construction.
It is the one fiscal measure in the Circular Economy Strategy already in force, and it is aimed at the built environment, the biggest of the strategy's five priority sectors by tonnage.
- Started 1 April 2026
- Replaces the UK Aggregates Levy in Scotland
- £2.16 per tonne of primary aggregate
- Crushed rock, gravel and sand
- Recycled aggregate is outside it
- Collected by Revenue Scotland
The other tax that changed the same day
On 1 April 2026 the lower rate of Scottish Landfill Tax, the rate on inert waste like rubble, soil, brick and concrete, went from £4.05 to £8.65 a tonne. It had been £3.30 the year before that. The 2026 landfill tax post has the full table.
So burying a tonne of rubble now costs more than twice what it did a year ago in tax alone, while crushing the same rubble into aggregate and reusing it costs no aggregates tax at all. The two taxes are pulling the same way: keep demolition material in use, do not quarry fresh stone to replace it.
For a small job that arithmetic shows up in the skip price. For a large one it shows up in whether the site crushes its own arisings.
Two piles, not one
Keep the clean rubble apart from the rest and it goes for crushing at £149 a tonne, loaded by us.
What it changes on site
Segregation. Clean rubble, concrete and brick that is kept apart from plasterboard, timber, packaging and general waste can be crushed and go back into use as sub-base. Mixed with anything else it becomes a sorting problem and heads toward the higher landfill rate. The rules on keeping streams apart are in waste guidance for builders.
Plasterboard is the classic contaminant. It cannot go to landfill with other waste and it ruins a load of hardcore for crushing, which is why we handle it separately under plasterboard disposal. Soil with roots and turf in it is another; clean subsoil crushes, topsoil composts.
On a larger site the site waste management plan, covered in site waste management plans, is where the arisings get counted and the reuse gets planned. On a house extension it is simply a matter of two piles instead of one.
How heavy waste leaves with us
Rubble, hardcore, concrete and soil are the one thing we price by the tonne rather than the load, at £149 a tonne, because weight is what drives the disposal cost. Twenty-five rubble sacks is roughly a tonne, and a mixed heavy load carries a £250 supplement because it has to be sorted before anything can be crushed.
We load it, we carry it, and clean inert material goes for crushing into recycled aggregate rather than into a landfill cell. That is our concrete removal and soil removal services, with the general trade service at builders waste removal.
The cheapest ways to deal with rubble at every scale, including doing it yourself, are compared in how to get rid of rubble.
