Landfill ban information: EIR release

Information requested

1. Please provide me with a copy of any briefing notes prepared for Ministers within the last 12 months on the landfill ban that is due to come into force on 31st December 2025.

2. Please provide me with a list of the landfill sites that any landfill from Scotland after the 31st December 2025 is due to be sent to for processing or incineration.

3. Please provide me with a) copy of any correspondence with any of the sites referred to in question 2 and b) a copy of any contracts with those landfill sites.

4. Please provide me with a copy of any meeting minutes, email correspondence or read out of telephone calls with relevant UK Government officials on the processing or incinerating of Scottish landfill at sites in the rest of the UK after 31st December 2025.

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Question 1

I have included copies of the information you have requested below in Annex B.

You can find information on the exceptions that have been applied to information below in Annex A.

Questions 2 and 3

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the specific information you have requested. This is because the Scottish Government does not hold a list of landfill sites where Scotland’s landfill is due to be sent for processing or incineration. As a result, we are unable to provide you with the information you have requested in Question 2 and Question 3 of your request, as the Scottish Government does not hold any relevant information.

Therefore, with respect to your Question 2 and Question 3 of your request this is a formal notice under Regulation 10(4)(a) of the EIRs confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. It is important to note that although we do not hold the information and have applied Regulation 10(4)(a) – information not held, it is a requirement that we have to apply the public interest test. We understand the public interest in releasing this information as part of an open and transparent government. However, there is a greater public interest in allowing a private space for officials to consider information to ensure that it is factual and accurate before being released in the public domain.

Wider guidance on the Environmental Information regime can be found in the Key Concepts section under ‘Information Not Held’ and ‘The Public Interest Test’ in the attached Scottish Information Commissioner Briefings and Guidance document.

Further guidance on the public interest test can also be found on page 8 of the Scottish Information Commissioner guidance.

Question 4

I have included copies of the information you have requested below in Annex C.

On reviewing materials within scope of your request an exception has been applied in line with the EIRs.

You can find information on the exceptions that have been applied to information below in Annex A.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

EIR 202500491029 - Information released - Annex A - C

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