The regulations for Simpler Recycling in England have now been agreed in Parliament and Defra has published guidance that sets out how it expects it to work.
The key requirement is that for businesses with 10 or more FTEs within the business as a whole, recyclable waste will have to be separated from residual waste from 1 April 2025. This applies to schools and other public buildings and from 1 April 2027, will apply to all micro organisations <10 FTE.
The default position is that as a minimum, paper/card, other dry recyclables and food waste should each be collected in separate bins from any business or public premises (eg church, coundil offices, prisons, schools). There is no de minimis, so regardless of whether a business produces one sandwich or 1 tonne of food waste per week, for instance, it must be in separate bins to the other waste types although micro organisations (not premises) with fewer than 10 employees won’t be affected until 1 April 2027.
One change that has been made to the original proposals is the requirement for separate collections of paper/cardboard from other dry recyclables. However, this has been offset to some extent by a ‘TEEP’ provision whereby they can all be mixed if it is not technically, environmentally or economically practicable. How that will defined has yet to be made completely clear but there is brief guidance on GOV.UK.
The same requirement will apply to all household waste from 1 April 2026 and will include the requirement to collect plastic film from 1 April 2027.
A Defra Resources and Waste Joint Stakeholder Forum webinar on 4th December 2024 contained a R&W Webinar 041224_Simpler Recycling presentation on how Simpler Recycling should work.