"Simpler" Recycling Initiative - 31 March 2025

[RicksAlfas]

First I've heard of it today! Anyone else know about it?

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/simpler-recycling-work...

[Ham_and_Jam]

We got a letter about 6 months ago from our waste removal company (local council).

It’s going to be a right ball ache for us.

I have just seen that there is a 2 year exception for micro businesses until March 2027. Hopefully that will give us and our waste company time to resolve and smooth out the niggles

[StevieBee]

RicksAlfas said:

First I've heard of it today! Anyone else know about it?

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/simpler-recycling-work...

Ooh yes.

I'm knee deep into this at the moment on the planning and comms side, supporting mainly local authorities ahead of the incoming changes.

What do you want to know?

[RicksAlfas]

StevieBee said:

Ooh yes.

I'm knee deep into this at the moment on the planning and comms side, supporting mainly local authorities ahead of the incoming changes.

What do you want to know?

Food waste!
We don't have a staff canteen producing food. We bring in packed lunches or pick up a sandwich from the local shop.
Can we put wrappers, yoghurt pots, banana skins etc. in with general waste? (20 people).

[StevieBee]

RicksAlfas said:

Food waste!
We don't have a staff canteen producing food. We bring in packed lunches or pick up a sandwich from the local shop.
Can we put wrappers, yoghurt pots, banana skins etc. in with general waste? (20 people).

Yes, apart from the banana skins which can go in with the food waste.

Depending on the specification set by your waste company, yoghurt pots may well go in the recycling bin, not general waste.

Sounds unlikely that you generate much food waste so may well not be applicable or available to you anyway. But keep in mind that if recyclable packaging has too much food residue it can be rejected. This would be like half a pizza still in the box or a Yop bottle half full of Yop - not the odd mayo smear on a sandwich wrapper.

[M1AGM]

We operate offices from an office park, and pay for waste collection from big communal wheelie bins as part of our charges from the management company. We (well the cleaners) empty all our bins and put them in the communal bins. Does the management company now have to make sure that the waste collection firm are separating and recycling everyone's waste?

Edited by M1AGM on Wednesday 29th January 21:01

[RicksAlfas]

The letter from our waste management company suggested it was our problem and they were hiding under the desk hoping it would go away.

[AB]

I'll continue to put it all in black bags and drop it off at the local council tip on my way home once a week.

[StevieBee]

M1AGM said:

We operate offices from an office park, and pay for waste collection from big communal wheelie bins as part of our charges from the management company. We (well the cleaners) empty all our bins and put them in the communal bins. Does the management company now have to make sure that the waste collection firm are separating and recycling everyone's waste?

The obligation is on the waste company to provide the means of separation and the businesses to separate their waste. As the Management Company contracts the Waste Company, their obligation is to ensure both service provider and service user (you) are compliant.

RicksAlfas said:

The letter from our waste management company suggested it was our problem and they were hiding under the desk hoping it would go away.

The legislation hasn’t been properly communicated (in my view) and some companies are unaware of its existence or that is in fact ‘legislation’ rather than guidline. That will change.

AB said:

I'll continue to put it all in black bags and drop it off at the local council tip on my way home once a week.

Keep in mind that doing this, you are using a service that you haven’t paid for.

Added to which is by not separating your business waste and using a domestic service for its disposal, you are increasing costs to the local authority. Others doing the same will ultimately lead to council tax increasing to higher levels than they might otherwise.

As you are 'stealing' a domestic service for your business, do at least try to separate the waste into different streams. ;-)

[M1AGM]

Apparently there is a way to not have to deal with all of this. I may have got a few things muddled as I am not a waste contractor but essentially as a waste collection business if you do not have the facilities to separate and deal with the different recycling requirements you can self exempt and not bother. But you do still have to do food waste separately (teabags are classified as food waste). Happy to be corrected.

[RicksAlfas]

But if I’ve separated food waste from general office waste I still need to get rid of it. So then I need my waste company to operate a food waste service. Which will mean another bin, another collection, and another bloody bill!

[StevieBee]

RicksAlfas said:

But if I’ve separated food waste from general office waste I still need to get rid of it. So then I need my waste company to operate a food waste service. Which will mean another bin, another collection, and another bloody bill!

The UK has one of the highest waste disposal costs in the world - that is the cost to use landfill. Food Waste added to landfill (general waste) adds a great deal of weight and thus cost which is passed onto you by the waste company. There is still a cost for dealing with separated food waste but significantly less. So whilst yes, you need another bin, the net result should be at worse, the same cost but over time, you should see a cost less than it would otherwise have been.

Whether or not the waste companies reflect this in their pricing is another matter.

[borcy]

What does the food waste get turned into, compost?

[Ham_and_Jam]

StevieBee said:

The UK has one of the highest waste disposal costs in the world - that is the cost to use landfill. Food Waste added to landfill (general waste) adds a great deal of weight and thus cost which is passed onto you by the waste company. There is still a cost for dealing with separated food waste but significantly less. So whilst yes, you need another bin, the net result should be at worse, the same cost but over time, you should see a cost less than it would otherwise have been.

Whether or not the waste companies reflect this in their pricing is another matter.

Instead of one waste truck and 4 operatives to remove our 1 x 1100lt general waste bin every week, we now need 3 x waste trucks and operatives to remove the different streams.

That’s not going to be economically in our favour.

[Ham_and_Jam]

AB said:

I'll continue to put it all in black bags and drop it off at the local council tip on my way home once a week.

When required to show your waste transfer information and certicate, how will you prove where your waste has gone?

Local councils are very active on this.

[Simpo Two]

StevieBee said:

The UK has one of the highest waste disposal costs in the world - that is the cost to use landfill.

Is that due to landfill tax, ie a self-imposed cost?

As the population goes up 5M every 10 years, the amount of waste (and demand on everything) is going to go up not down.

[StevieBee]

Ham_and_Jam said:

StevieBee said:

The UK has one of the highest waste disposal costs in the world - that is the cost to use landfill. Food Waste added to landfill (general waste) adds a great deal of weight and thus cost which is passed onto you by the waste company. There is still a cost for dealing with separated food waste but significantly less. So whilst yes, you need another bin, the net result should be at worse, the same cost but over time, you should see a cost less than it would otherwise have been.

Whether or not the waste companies reflect this in their pricing is another matter.

Instead of one waste truck and 4 operatives to remove our 1 x 1100lt general waste bin every week, we now need 3 x waste trucks and operatives to remove the different streams.

That’s not going to be economically in our favour.

Most likely the recycling and general waste will be collected in the same truck by the same crews; the trucks being split loaders to keep the two streams separate. Food waste is normally collected in smaller trucks. Both types and the necessary crews will already exist and is just a case of reassigning rounds though some may expand their fleets.

And keep in mind that recycling and separated food waste is a commodity from which a revenue is earned, that revenue offsetting any cost increase that might be incurred. Also, disposal costs and landfill tax have a built in price escalator meaning that those costs will increase year on year. Minimising disposal through recycling will equate to a net gain to your business in the same way it does for households - even if your waste service fees increase in the short term.

[Ham_and_Jam]

StevieBee said:

Most likely the recycling and general waste will be collected in the same truck by the same crews; the trucks being split loaders to keep the two streams separate. Food waste is normally collected in smaller trucks. Both types and the necessary crews will already exist and is just a case of reassigning rounds though some may expand their fleets.

And keep in mind that recycling and separated food waste is a commodity from which a revenue is earned, that revenue offsetting any cost increase that might be incurred. Also, disposal costs and landfill tax have a built in price escalator meaning that those costs will increase year on year. Minimising disposal through recycling will equate to a net gain to your business in the same way it does for households - even if your waste service fees increase in the short term.

Come on Steve, back in the real world…

[RicksAlfas]

StevieBee said:

Most likely the recycling and general waste will be collected in the same truck by the same crews; the trucks being split loaders to keep the two streams separate.

We are talking commercial waste collections! Massive trucks with forks on the front which pick the container up and tip it over the cab roof. Single crewed. There is no way those can do split collections. It would have to be a separate truck, separate visit, separate invoice....

[Ham_and_Jam]

RicksAlfas said:

We are talking commercial waste collections! Massive trucks with forks on the front which pick the container up and tip it over the cab roof. Single crewed. There is no way those can do split collections. It would have to be a separate truck, separate visit, separate invoice....

Yep. Our waste collection costs will at least double, that’s assuming we can find some savings in fewer collections for the one / two of the streams.