Simpler Recycling Legislation: Is Your Business Ready?
In this blog Mike Stafford, Head of Waste at HIPPO, takes a look at the Simpler Recycling legislation that is being introduced in England to reform the way household and business waste is collected and recycled.
Table of Contents
What is Simpler Recycling?
What Will It Achieve?
The Simpler Recycling Timeline
What Waste Materials to Separate
How Your Business Can Prepare
HIPPO - Your Waste Partner
What Is Simpler Recycling?
Simpler Recycling is a government initiative aimed at standardising waste collection across England, ensuring that businesses and households follow the same recycling rules. Currently, recycling systems vary by local authority, leading to confusion about what can and cannot be recycled. This inconsistency has resulted in lower recycling rates and high levels of contamination in recycling streams.
From March 2025, businesses and households will be required to separate dry recyclables, food waste, and general waste to improve recycling efficiency. The legislation will ensure that the same core materials are collected nationwide, making recycling more straightforward, reducing waste sent to landfill, and supporting a more circular economy.
What Will the Simpler Recycling Scheme Achieve?
Simpler Recycling will introduce sweeping changes to waste collection and recycling practices across England from 31st March 2025.
The legislation will:
- Standardise waste collections from households and businesses across England, introducing separate streams for recyclable materials.
- Simplify recycling by removing confusion over what is recyclable and what isn’t; people will be able to recycle the same materials whether they are at home or at work.
- Increase the volume and quality of the recyclable material collected, by removing recyclable material from general waste and reducing contamination in recycling streams.
- Separate food waste collections will reduce the amount of general waste sent to landfill and energy from waste (EfW).
All of this is going to lead improved recycling rates with all locations, both at home and at work, adopting a similar practice which will increase the efficiency of recycling collections.
The Simpler Recycling Timeline
Simpler Recycling is being introduced in a phased approach across England and will impact both household and business collections. The key dates for its implementation are:
- 31st March 2025 – businesses and non-household municipal premises, with 10 or more full time employees, MUST separate food waste and dry recyclables from their general waste for collection.
- 31st March 2026 – Local Authorities must implement the collection of dry recyclables and the weekly collection of food waste from households.
- 31st March 2027 – Micro businesses (less than 10 full time employees) must comply with the requirements to separate dry mixed recyclables and food waste. Plastic film packaging and plastic bags will be added to the plastics mix for collection for businesses and households.
What Waste Materials Do Businesses Need To Separate?
Simpler Recycling will introduce a clear and consistent system for the collection of defined recyclables, food waste and general waste that will apply across England.
Dry Mixed Recyclables
The five dry recyclable materials that are required to be collected are as follows:
- Paper and Cardboard - office paper, cardboard boxes and packaging
- Plastic – plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays and other plastic packaging*
- Metals – aluminium cans, steel tins and kitchen foil
- Glass - glass bottles and jars
*Excludes plastic film and carrier bags until 2027
It is likely that following an assessment by a waste management service provider, like HIPPO, most businesses will be able to mix some or all of their dry recyclable material together in one bin for collection purposes.
Food Waste
If a business produces any amount of food waste, (including leftovers from employees’ lunches), then this waste will need to be separated from the general waste and collected as part of separate food waste collection. Food waste includes any food intended for human consumption, including tea bags, bones, vegetable and fruit peelings.
General Waste
A general waste collection will be required for any remaining waste that is left over once dry mixed recycling and food waste has been removed from the waste stream.
How Your Business Can Prepare
The first step is to review your current waste management arrangements, including identifying which waste streams your business is generating and how well these are currently being separated.
If your business is generating food waste and it is currently being put in the general waste bin, this will need to change. By simply adding a dedicated food waste bin or kitchen caddie with a tight-fitting lid, kitchen waste can then be collected separately.
For Simpler Recycling to work, it is imperative that we all play our part in making sure our waste is sorted and presented correctly for collection. A key part of this is ensuring our staff understand the new requirements and have been trained on waste separation practises. Good clear communication through training workshops, signage and how to guides should help them comply with the new requirements.
HIPPO - Your Waste Partner
With the Simpler Recycling deadline approaching, the good news is that HIPPO are here to help your business by offering advice and services to help you comply with the new legislation.
Whilst you are reviewing your business requirements for Simpler Recycling, why not look at your wider waste management arrangements and see if HIPPO have a solution for you. HIPPO collect a wide range of wastes using our flexible HIPPOBAGS. Our bags are 100% recyclable and often provide a more versatile and convenient waste solution to a traditional builder’s skip. The bags are suitable for a wide range of wastes, including construction and demolition waste, and are ideal for office clearances or renovations.
If space is limited or access restricted, then we can offer our Man & Van service as an alternative to our HIPPOBAG lorry collection.
As a waste management business focused on providing efficient, complaint and sustainable waste management solutions, HIPPO are on hand to help guide you through your waste management journey offering fast, reliable and complaint solutions.
Sources:
Simpler recycling: workplace recycling in England – https://www.gov.uk/guidance/simpler-recycling-workplace-recycling-in-england
Simpler Recycling in England: policy update – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/simpler-recycling-in-england-policy-update/simpler-recycling-in-england-policy-update