2 weeks to go until DEFRA’s Simpler Recycling Legislation – what do you need to know?

On Monday 10th February 2025, we hosted our second online webinar with key speakers, David Gudgeon, Our Head of External Affairs and the Environment Agency. In this webinar, they discussed Legislation updates, specifically the Simpler Recycling Legislation which is coming into effect on 31st March 2025.

So, what is Simpler Recycling?

The UK Government is implementing the Simpler Recycling Legislation to standardise recycling practices across England, aiming to make recycling more straightforward for businesses, households and non-domestic premises. This legislation will reduce confusion over recyclable materials and help promote the circular economy.

If you’re still a bit confused about Simpler Recycling, and you weren’t able to attend our webinar, don’t worry! We’ve summarised the key webinar takeaways for you! Plus, you can also catch-up with the webinar on-demand.

Here’s some of the key information you might have missed:

  1. Simpler Recycling impacts all businesses in England (except microbusinesses with less than 10 FTE employees overall). This applies even if you only have a few employees per site. If you employee more than 10 people across all of your sites, you’re in scope of the legislation!
  2. The intended benefits of Simpler Recycling are to improve quantity and quality of materials for recycling and reduce the quantity of food and recyclable waste that is landfilled or incinerated.
  3. A TEEP assessment can only be used to determine if a customer will have a Dry Mixed Recycling collection or need separate bins for paper/card and metals/plastics. There is no exemption for businesses to deviate from the regulations, e.g. not separating food waste, because space is an issue.
  4. The Environment Agency will be monitoring and enforcing the legislation by issuing a Compliance Notice action (except to Waste Collection Authorities) and then failure to comply is an offence and the EA will consider the enforcement response in accordance with their Enforcement and Sanctions Policy.
  5. Simpler Recycling is part of the government’s broader strategy to enhance recycling rates, reduce waste and support a circular economy and contribute to overall environmental sustainability.

It was great to see over 800 people join the webinar and there were plenty of fantastic questions asked. Don’t forget, if you were unable to join the webinar but you would like to see a recording, you can access that here.

If you have any questions on the next steps regarding Simpler Recycling for your business, please get in touch today! You can also download our helpful guide here.