Although the Isle of Wight Council will use landfill as a last option for the management of municipal waste, there is an acknowledgement in the Island Plan Core Strategy that landfill may be required on the Island in the future as not all waste can currently be economically recycled. Also, new facilities required to aid in the diversion of waste from landfill may not be operational before the current landfill reaches capacity.

Developing a new landfill requires planning and environmental permissions which can take up to a year to prepare and another year to be determined by the relevant authorities. The facility will then require engineering before waste is accepted. It is therefore important that preparations are managed in a timely manner.