Waste and recycling collections will change for all businesses with 10 or more full-time equivalent employees in England from 31st March 2025.

The UK Government has introduced Simpler Recycling legislation to mandate the separation of materials from general waste. Many businesses will be doing this for the first time.

With less than 25 days to go until the regulations become mandatory, there’s still a lot of uncertainty among businesses. Here’s what business decision-makers need to know about the upcoming legislation and how to prepare for Simpler Recycling.

Understand what materials you are currently wasting

The starting point is to understand what materials you are currently putting in your waste and see if you can reduce the overall amount of waste. Easy ways to do this are keep printing to a minimum, encourage staff to use washable cups and plates rather than single use items, and work with suppliers to reduce the amount of unnecessary packaging they send you.

You must separate recyclable material from general waste 

For most businesses, the most significant change will be that you can no longer dispose of all your rubbish in a general waste bin. If your organisation currently disposes of glass, metal, plastic, paper, cardboard, and food waste, you will need to separate them and organise a dedicated collection.

Although these materials must be separated from general waste, your waste management provider can collect many of them together – meaning less money spent on bin containers and less space required on-site.

You won’t need seven different bins 

Waste operators who have applied for an exemption on behalf of their customers can continue collecting metal, plastic (non-film), paper and cardboard using existing dry mixed recycling (DMR) systems. Some operators may collect glass in a single bin with other DMR materials, but Biffa is providing separate glass collections which we believe to be the safest and most cost efficient for our customers in the long run. 

Most businesses will need four bins: food waste, dry mixed recycling, general waste, and glass waste.

Simpler Recycling will potentially cost more at first

To rip the plaster off, Simpler Recycling will require upfront effort and could incur additional costs for businesses. The cost comes from the additional separate containers that you may need for recyclable materials and a collection service. 

This cost will vary depending on various factors. These include the volume of waste generated, how many bins you need, how frequently they need collecting, and whether there are opportunities to reduce waste. 

Effort will also be needed to ensure that all your staff understand the new sorting requirements.

Separating recyclable material from general waste can save you money 

In most cases, the service fee for collecting a general waste bin is higher than the fee for recycling, because of the high disposal costs of general waste. Government policies are likely to continue to increase the disposal costs for general waste to encourage recycling and separation of food waste. While waste management operators are different in their approach to how they absorb costs, it is highly likely this cost will be on some level passed on to customers.

The good news is that if you embed the proper separation of recycling and food waste in your teams, it can potentially reduce the volume of your general waste bin. This can offset additional costs if your business needs to increase the number of bins to comply with Simpler Recycling reforms.

Separating materials makes a difference

Some lessons can be learned from similar legislation—Workplace Recycling—which was introduced in Wales in 2024. As of April last year, businesses were required to separate their materials into six containers, and the scheme has seen some impressive results.

Biffa alone collected 68% more food waste from Welsh businesses year-on-year between November 2023 and 2024. In the same period, the total recycling of paper and cardboard, recyclable plastic and metal that Biffa collected from businesses in Wales increased by over a third (34%).

What actions do businesses need to take?

Simpler Recycling will take some getting used to, and we can expect to see businesses – alongside the waste industry – finding their feet over the coming months. 

The most important actions for businesses are to arrange the right material collections based on the waste produced and ensure that as much can be diverted from general waste as possible.

In taking these actions, you ensure you’re compliant while taking steps towards being a more sustainable business.

Download our free comprehensive guide to Simpler Recycling >

By Fiona Campbell, Head of Sustainability at Biffa

Listen to Fiona Campbell on Buckinghamshire Business First's Talking Heads podcast!

Rethinking Rubbish: The Road to Net Zero with Biffa: Our latest podcast guest is Fiona Campbell, Head of Sustainability at Biffa, who explains Biffa’s role in driving a circular economy, the need for collaboration between businesses and local authorities, technology's role in waste reduction, and how organisations can make a tangible environmental impact. Listen to Fiona's chat with Helen Shellabear here >

Editor's note on which businesses need to comply by the 31st March deadline:

• If your business or organisation has 10 or more full-time equivalent employees, then you need to be compliant by 31st March 2025.
• If you have fewer than 10 full-time equivalent employees, then you need to be compliant by 31st March 2027. (But don't leave it until March 2027 to start thinking about it!)

The Defra-funded Business of Recycling website provides guidance and resources for specific business sectors and non-domestic premises such as schools and hospitals, on how to make the changes required. The website also includes a waste calculator that gives businesses the potential costs of their waste collection service, and ideas to improve waste efficiency.

Read the official government guidance on the Simpler Recycling legislation here >