What Is Simpler Recycling?

The first phase of Simpler Recycling legislation is now in effect for England. After several years of planning and publicity, the scheme came into effect for all but the smallest businesses in England from 1st April 2025. Simpler Recycling puts new requirements on around 250,000 small, medium and large businesses in England when it comes to how they handle a lot of their general waste. But even though the Simpler Recycling scheme has been a requirement for more than a month, evidence suggests that many of these firms are unprepared for these changes.

At a Glance: Simpler Recycling for Businesses

• As of April 2025, all businesses in England with more than 10 full-time employees must comply with Simpler Recycling.
• This requires the separation of major non-specialist waste streams at the point of creation, not collection.
• Affected businesses and organisations must set up bins and other collection methods for Dry Recyclable material, Paper/Card and Food Waste as well as non-recyclable waste.
• While businesses’ existing waste management partners can supply bins and collect and empty them, it is the responsibility of the business to ensure that the waste streams are separated and that employees are informed of the new system.

What is Simpler Recycling?

Simpler Recycling is an initiative that aims to increase the amount of waste successfully recycled and promote the principles of the ‘circular economy’. It also aims to reduce confusion about what can and cannot be recycled by introducing clearer separate recycling streams.

It applies only to England, since Scotland has required the separation of recycling for businesses since 2014, and Wales introduced similar requirements last year.

Under the new Simpler Recycling regulations, from April 2025, all businesses and ‘non-household premises’ (which includes public-sector and service institutions such as schools and hospitals) with ten or more full-time employees must comply with the Simpler Recycling scheme.

The full-time employee count is across all sites that are part of a business, regardless of how many employees are on site or on duty at any one time. So, a business with five sites with two people at each will still have to comply with Simpler Recycling from April 2025. So would a business with one site running two shifts of five people.

In brief, Simpler Recycling means that organisations must separate recyclable materials from general waste and then, from the recyclables, separate Dry Recyclable Materials, Paper and Card and Food Waste.

Households have until April 2026 to meet these standards (which is also the deadline for local authorities to be able to collect the waste streams separately), and micro-firms with fewer than ten employees will be affected from April 2027.

In practice that means that these businesses must separate the following waste streams, so they can each be handled more suitably and sustainably:

General/Residual and Other Waste

These are materials that are not currently recyclable. Businesses may also have other waste streams that must be separated from the other categories, such as electronic waste or chemical waste. But these are outside the scope of Simpler Recycling and are unaffected by it.

Dry Recyclable Materials

Dry Recyclable Materials include glass bottles and jars, plastic bottles and pots, tubs, trays and cartons. It also includes plastic tubes larger than 50mm x 50mm in size. Metals such as steel and aluminium tins, cans, aerosols, jar and bottle lids, foil, trays and tubes are also in this category.

Paper and Card

All normal paper and card are included in this category. But foiled, laminated, sticky or padded paper and card products are not currently recyclable and so must be treated as general/residual waste. Hardback books and wallpaper are also not recyclable with normal paper and card.

Food Waste

This means any food intended for human consumption or waste from preparing food. It includes inedible food parts like eggshells and bones, vegetable skins, tea bags and coffee grounds.

How Ready Are Businesses for Simpler Recycling?

The Simpler Recycling initiative was drawn up by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in 2023. The implementation date for the first phase is March 31st 2025. The final phase will be implemented in 2027.