From 31 March 2025, new waste legislation will begin to come into force requiring all businesses in England to separate recyclable materials in a similar way to how most householders do now.
Significantly, this includes the separate collection of your food waste, diverting it from general waste streams.
The aim is to improve the quality and quantity of waste collections, and aligns England with similar legislation ready in place in Wales and Scotland.
These requirements have been some of the biggest waste changes for some time.
Your questions answered
What type of waste is covered?
It applies to the following waste streams, where the waste is “household recyclable waste”:
- glass;
- metal;
- plastic;
- Paper and card;
- food waste;
- garden waste (domestic collection only).
The legislation talks about “household recyclable waste”. Does it apply to industrial and commercial premises?
Yes, it refers to household recyclable waste generated at both domestic and non-domestic premises – including industrial and commercial premises.
“Household recyclable waste” simply means the type of waste that you would normally find in a household, but extended to industrial and commercial settings.
Things like bottles, jars, tins, cans, plastic bottles, pots and trays and fibre-based composite cups etc.
Schedule 1 to the Separation of Waste (England) Regulations SI 2024/666 sets out some specific examples for each of the named waste streams.
Are any premises exempted? Hospitals, universities etc?
Nope! It applies to every business, no matter what you do!
Manufacturing processes, offices, prisons, hospitals, care homes, schools, colleges and universities, garages, transport hubs…everything!
I’ve heard there is an exemption if you produce less than 5kg of food waste per day?
This this has caused some confusion – there’s no 5kg threshold for England, despite what’s been reported by lots of sources. We’ve had a lot of questions in around this, so we’ve gone through the legislation with a fine tooth comb, it’s not mentioned in there anywhere. All food waste intended for human or household pet consumption, and all biodegradable material resulting from the processing or preparation of food, has to be collected separately, regardless of the amount produced. There are slightly different requirements across the UK, and there is such a 5kg threshold in Wales and Scotland. But not England.
There must be some exemptions? I’ve heard something about “micro-firms”?
There’s draft legislation currently working its way through Parliament that will exempt micro-firms from the requirements, but only for firms with less than 10 employees, and that’s only until 2027. A “micro-firm” is waste from a business with 10 or less full-time employees. And it applies to a business as a whole, not specific premises or units. It’s important to note that the micro-firm exemption is included in the Draft Separation of Waste(England) (No. 2) Regulations 2024. As that legislation is still a draft, it could be subject to change
Does the waste have to be collected separately, or can it be mixed?
Currently, the law as it stands is as follows:
- Environmental Protection Act 1990 – this was amended at the end of May to bring the waste separation requirements into force. That law states that each recyclable household waste stream (including such waste within industrial or commercial waste collections) must be collected separately, except in very specific circumstances;
- The Separation of Waste (England) Regulations SI 2024/666 specifies what kinds of waste qualifies as recyclable for this purpose;
- The Environment Act 2021 (Commencement No.9 and Transitional Provisions) Regulations SI2024/639 sets out that these provisions don’t begin until 31 March 2025 at the earliest, though these transitional provisions are complicated.
The Government has also published the Draft Separation of Waste (England) (No.2 ) Regulations 2024, which, if made into law, will allow the co-mingled collection of household recycling waste. This means youcould potentially have a general waste bin, a mixed recycling bin and a food waste bin as a minimum. However, this is not actually law yet and is just a proposal at this stage.
When does it all come into force?
The food waste collections for non-domestic, commercial and industrial sites will begin on 31 March 2025.
When it comes to households, it is 31 March 2026. However, this gets extremely complicated. Because of existing contracts regarding household collections, some areas will see a delay in the separate collections of food wate. For example, householders in the North Yorkshire Council area may not see food waste separately collected until February 2043, unless things change. It’s an extremely complicated situation.