Simpler Recycling Legistlation
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has recently released their guidance to the Simpler Recycling Legislation. This legislation is set to launch on 31st March 2025 impacting initially businesses before also affecting households too.
What is Defra's Simpler Recycling Legislation?
Defra’s Simpler Recycling Legislation, set to be rolled out on 31st March 2025, refers to a set of reforms proposed by the UK government’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) aimed at streamlining and improving the recycling process across the country. The main goal is to make recycling easier for households, businesses, and local authorities by creating more standard and consistent rules around waste collection and recycling.
Do all businesses fall in-scope of this legislation?
Microbusinesses (those with less than 10 FTE employees) are exempt from these requirements until 31st March 2027. FTE employment is measured per business rather than per unit, therefore a multi-premises business employing more than 10 FTE employees in total, is required to segregate in-scope materials and arrange the appropriate collection services by 31st March 2025.
Download our Simpler Recycling Guide
Download herePrepare for Simpler Recycling
Download our latest webinar
In our latest webinar, Navigating the Latest Legislative Changes in the Waste Industry: Key Updates, we discussed the rollout of the Simpler Recycling Legislation and just how it may impact your business.
To receive a free recording of the webinar, with our very own Head of External Affairs, Dave Gudegeon, you can download a copy today.
Download HereAll materials that are capable of being recycled will be collected from all businesses, including premises such as schools and hospitals.
The only exemption at this moment will be plastic film and green waste are exempt.
Households will need to recycle all waste streams, except plastic films. Local authorities to start receiving ongoing resource funding for food collections, meaning weekly collections will take place and all core recycling collections continue.
The time to tackle plastic films and remove it from regular plastic waste, introducing flexible collections from households and businesses.
This will also be the time that smaller businesses with fewer than 10 full-time employees will have to comply.
All paper & cardboard except:
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- Paper and card that contains glitter or foil
- Paper that is laminated
- Stickers and sticky paper
- Padded lined envelopes
- Paperback and hardback books
- Wallpaper
- Plastic bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET, including amorphous, recycled PET), polypropylene (PP), and high-density polyethylene (HDPE)
- Pots, tubs, and trays made of PET (including amorphous, recycled, and crystalline PET), PP (including expanded PP), and polyethylene (PE)
- PE and PP plastic tubes larger than 50mm x 50mm
- Cartons for food, drink, and other liquids, including aseptic and chilled cartons.
- Plastic film packaging and plastic bags made of mono-polyethylene (mono-PE), mono-polypropylene (mono-PP), and mixed polyolefins PE and PP, including those metallised through vacuum or vapour deposition (to be included from 31st March 2027).
- Steel and aluminium tins & cans
- Steel and aluminium aerosols
- Aluminium foil
- Aluminium food trays
- Steel and aluminium jars and bottle lids
- Aluminium tubes
Glass packaging including bottles and jars.
- All food intended for human or household pet consumption, regardless of whether it has a nutritional value.
- Biodegradable material resulting from the processing or preparation of food, including inedible food parts such as bones, eggshells, fruit and vegetable skins, tea bags and coffee grounds.
Following engagement with the waste sector, government intends to include plastic film packaging and plastic bags made of mono-PE, mono-PP and mixed polyolefins PE and PP in the plastic recyclable waste stream, including those metallised through vacuum or vapour deposition.
The legal requirement for businesses to separate recyclable materials from general waste doesn’t mean you will have 6 separate bins which was a common misperception. Under the Simpler Recycling legislation producers are allowed to co-mingle the recyclable materials mentioned in this document (except food waste) into one bin.
However, it should be noted that waste carriers do have the right to require producers to segregate Glass from the other materials which we commonly refer to as Dry Mixed Recyclables (DMR). We strongly encourage you to talk to us so we can help you identify where you can or cannot mix recyclable glass in a DMR bin.
Services to help with Simpler Recycling
Below are some of the services Reconomy Connect offers that can assist with Simpler Recycling legislation