Landfill manager David Balmer, who works with Mount Vernon’s operator Patersons, said it was possible that Scotland would quickly run out of landfill space.
He said the Polmadie breakdown had created a perfect storm.
“Could you see waste on the street? Absolutely,” he said.
Balmer said councils and waste management contractors were under an obligation to collect the rubbish.
“But if they can’t process it further down the line, what’s the easier solution?
“The easier solution is to leave in the streets at the moment, pending a solution. The problem is we can’t see a solution.”
Waste consultant Alasdair Meldrum, of Albion Environmental, says he has not seen such a looming crisis in almost 40 years of working in the industry.
He says there are already commercial operators who are struggling to find outlets to send their waste, with some being sent hundreds of miles to locations in England.
Meldrum added: “There’s no easy solution. There are a number of landfill sites that could develop more void space but you can’t do the engineering work in the winter.
“There’s no real short-term solution. We’ve got ourselves into a real problem.”