In 2023, the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) introduced Simpler Recycling Legislation. The two primary goals of this legislation were to:
- Make it clear and consistent as to what can be recycled across all regions
- Improve the collection and quantity of recycling from businesses and other non-households
This legislation will come into play from March 31, 2025, giving you precious little time to prepare. At ETM Recycling, our goal has always been to make recycling easier for your business, and in this article, we’ll explain what the changes are, what impact they’ll have, and how you can adapt.
What is Simpler Recycling Legislation?
Simpler Recycling Legislation is DEFRA’s attempt at improving the percentage of recycled goods across the country.
For households, this legislation means there will no longer be differences in what can be recycled across different regions. By ensuring every area can recycle the same things, less items will be mistakenly sent to landfill by customers confused of the recyclability.
For SMEs, this legislation has a very different effect. If your business, or non-household organisation, has 10 or more full-time employees, separating your waste has become mandatory. Items include:
- Plastic
- Paper and card
- Metal
- Glass
- And, notably, food waste
While these changes are only coming into play from March 2025, you will need to start adjusting your behaviours and recycling setup now, especially for things like food waste which will typically have been lumped together with general waste for most businesses.
To help you understand why you need to act, we’ll explain the potential impacts this legislation could have on your business.
The Impact of Simpler Recycling Legislation on SMEs
Handling Your Food Waste
Food waste will now need to be separated. This means increasing employee awareness of this change so they don’t throw their food waste in the regular bin, adding a food waste bin for this waste to be collected in, and arranging food waste collection with your waste carrier.
An additional consideration for this is the potential bad smell from this waste, especially if your business receives frequent visitors, so having an appropriate place to put this waste – along with an adequate collection schedule – will help you manage things easier.
Dry Recyclable Materials
Separating out your dry waste has also become a mandatory requirement, meaning the aforementioned factors of paper, cardboard, glass, and more. This could have an impact on the number of bins you have, the frequency of your waste collection, and even your very business practices that produce this waste in the first place.
Below, we’ll detail some of the methods you can use to adapt to these changes.
How to Adapt to Recycling Legislation Changes
Preventing the Simpler Recycling Legislation changes from having a negative impact on your business is simple itself. Working with a waste management partner like ETM Recycling takes the hassle away, ensuring you meet your recycling requirements. Here are some other steps you can take to make things even easier:
- Improve waste separation. Increasing the number of bins you have to account for all the different recycling types will make it easier to separate waste, improving the number of recycled materials and ensuring you meet regulatory requirements.
- Increase collection frequency. Especially for businesses with little space for their waste, increasing the frequency of your recycling bin collection can make it easier for you to manage this greater need for sorting and the number of waste containers this entails.
- Reduce your waste. Depending on what your business does, it may be possible to reduce the waste you produce. Consider using lightweight packaging, cutting back on the wastage from your supply line, and encouraging employee awareness of good recycling habits.
Find out more about managing waste sustainably >
Other Legislation Changes
Alongside the Simpler Recycling Legislation, there have been a few other bills or amends that may impact your business.
Landfill Tax
The Government is increasing the amount of Landfill Tax that waste carriers pay for any waste that goes to landfill, with rates that could see a greater than 21% increase depending on the circumstances. While waste carriers pay this tax, businesses will likely see rate increases for landfill waste as a result, encouraging them to adjust the types of waste they produce and to improve the separation and management of it.
Disposable Vape Ban
From June 1, 2025, the sale of disposable vapes will be banned. Additionally, vapes will receive a further tax of £2.20 per 10ml of liquid they contain from October 2026. These changes come as part of the Tobacco and Vapes Bill, and aims to tackle the 7.7 million disposable vapes that are sold in the UK each week. This will have an obvious impact on the vaping industry, but will likely have little effect on most SMEs.
Explore more recycling legislation with our article on hazardous waste requirements >
Keep Your Business Ahead of Recycling Legislation Changes with ETM Recycling
The new Simpler Recycling Legislation means more potential pitfalls when handling your business waste. Keeping up with new legal requirements for recycling and waste from your business can be a challenge, especially when you don’t have the time to sort things yourself.
At ETM Recycling, we help SMEs and other businesses to ensure they meet their recycling requirements, using our highly effective waste management facilities to sort waste and prepare it for recycling. Make it easier for your business to adapt to the regulations – get in touch today.
Check out our beginner’s guide to waste-to-energy solutions >
Learn more about the role of waste management in climate change mitigation >
