Simpler recycling

Recycling law is changing in England. All workplaces (businesses and relevant non-domestic premises) will need to recycle the same core set of materials.

The Government wants to move to a future where we keep our resources in use for longer, and reduce waste to landfill. Increased recycling and separately collecting food waste will help to reduce carbon emissions associated with waste and will support the council's journey to becoming carbon neutral.

The new legislation applies to organisations that are:

(a) acting in the course of a business (whether or not for profit)
(b) exercising a public function

The new requirements also affect the following relevant non-domestic premises:

• residential homes
• educational establishments (such as schools, colleges, and universities
• hospitals or nursing homes
• places of worship
• penal institutes (such as prisons)
• a charity shop selling donated goods originating from a domestic property
• a residential hostel which provides accommodation only to persons with no other permanent address or who are unable to live at their permanent address
• premises used wholly or mainly for public meetings

You need to ensure that your business's waste collection service arranges for recyclable materials to be collected separately from your general waste and present your waste in accordance with Simpler Recycling requirements. Gedling Borough Council can collect your waste collection, if you contact us, we can provide information on what you need to do and we can also provide a quote for collection. 

The recyclable waste streams are plastic, metal, glass, paper and card, and food waste.

You need to ensure that you are using a system for keeping those materials separate as advised by your waste collection service, whilst also not mixing recyclable waste with general waste.

By 31 March 2025, if you have ten or more full-time equivalent employees across your entire business.

By 31 March 2027, if you have fewer than ten full-time equivalent employees.

By 31 March 2027 you will also need to arrange for the collection of flexible plastics (film).

Employment is measured per enterprise/business, rather than per unit/site, therefore multi-branch enterprises that employ over 10 FTE across multiple units would need to implement these changes by 31 March 2025.

A business is classed as a micro-firm if the number of full-time equivalent employees across the entire business is less than ten.

You can determine whether an organisation qualifies as a micro-firm by adding together the number of full-time staff and a fraction based on pro-rata hours part-time members of staff have worked in a 12 week period. For example:

Your business employs 6 full-time members of staff who each work 37 hours per week and 6 part-time members of staff who each work 18 hours a week, one of whom has only worked for the business for 2 weeks.

For each of the 4 part-time employees who have worked at the business for the full 12 week period, you would take the total number of hours worked (216) and divide it by 12 (18), then divide that by 37 (0.48).

For the employee who has worked for only 2 weeks, the total hours worked (36) would be divided by 2, to also get 0.48.

Each part-time employee’s full-time equivalent hours are 0.48, meaning the total number of full-time equivalent employees is (0.48 x 5 = 2.4) + 6 = 8.4. This business would therefore qualify as a micro-firm.

The Environment Agency will be able to issue a compliance notice against anyone that is a party to arrangements for collection made under section 45AZA or section 45AZB (industrial or commercial waste) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, that is not compliant with the requirements.

Compliance notices can be issued against anyone who is not presenting the waste separately in accordance with the arrangements agreed with the waste collector. This could be the waste producers (e.g. a business) or landlords and facilities management companies who are presenting waste on behalf of the waste producer.

It is an offence to fail to comply with a compliance notice and you may be liable on conviction to pay a fine.

The Environment Agency will be delivering a range of engagement activities, guidance and resources up to and beyond the commencement of the legislation, supporting monitoring of business readiness activities, awareness and understanding through stakeholder industry and trade forums. They will take a pragmatic approach to implementation where appropriate, working with stakeholders to support them in overcoming any difficulties they might face in relation to compliance within the legislative timeframes.

All workplaces producing food waste (including teabags etc) will need to arrange for separate collection in accordance with the new Simpler Recycling requirements. This is regardless of the volume, and applies to all workplaces, not just those that serve food or have catering facilities.

Workplaces have flexibility to decide on the frequency of collections to align with the volume of waste they produce, so it is possible to arrange for infrequent collections if this suits the needs of the workplace best. Workplaces could also consider sharing facilities with neighbouring premises where quantities are small, with the agreement of the neighbouring premises and the waste collector.