As well as the visual impact on communities, landfill is seen as the least environmentally sustainable way of handling waste.
It involves dumping the waste in a huge hole in the ground and covering it over with soil.
Landfill taxes have made the option progressively more expensive that incineration, where the rubbish is burnt in a furnace to create electricity.
Efforts to encourage us to recycle have barely budged the dial in Scotland, even though rates in the rest of the UK are higher – much higher for Wales.
Several new incinerators are either in planning or construction which should close the capacity gap within two years.
Longer term concerns about overcapacity at incinerators led ministers to announce in 2022 that no more would be allowed beyond those already under consideration.
Friends of the Earth Scotland has long argued that incineration should not be seen as the solution to dealing with waste and that more investment is needed in waste reduction and recycling.
Campaigner Kim Pratt added: “Rather than allowing these costly and damaging policies to continue, the Scottish government must close the loopholes in its incinerator moratorium and properly invest in the real solution to waste management: reduce, reuse and recycle.”