The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has confirmed changes to household and business bin collections. This announcement follows the Prime Minister's net zero speech earlier in September 2023 where he said his Government is scrapping any plans to roll out ‘seven bins’ to householders.

Andrew Opie, Director of Food & Sustainability at the BRC, said:

We welcome the publication of the Government's plans, which we hope will result in more recyclable material being collected through kerbside collection. Such consistency across England will allow for simpler messaging from retailers to support their customers' efforts to recycle. What we still need to see is the comprehensive plan to deliver a meaningful shift in recycling rates in the UK.

What does this announcement mean?

It means that the Government will introduce new rules (via secondary legislation) to household and business recycling collections to make sure that everyone in England recycles the same materials whether at home, work or school, with no longer needing to check what councils will accept for recycling.

Why is this announcement important?

This announcement is important because it will impact how you deal with your business recycling waste in stores and your offices!

It is also intertwined with the new packaging EPR rules, whereby businesses, including retailers, will be paying new additional fees (EPR fees) for the collection, sorting and treatment of household packaging waste. It is also connected to the forthcoming mandatory recyclability labelling rules which will require businesses to label their packaging as Recycle/Do Not Recycle. 

This announcement is about bringing in more consistency in what (what materials) is being collected for recycling across in England, it is not about consistency in the method of collection (segregated, co-mingled). In fact, Government is considering introducing an exemption to allow all councils in England to offer just 3 waste containers (bins, boxes or bags) – for dry recycling, food waste and residual (non-recyclable) waste. An optional garden waste collection will be offered to all households, and councils will be able to choose to co-collect food and garden waste if preferred.

What is the core recyclable waste streams?

Glass; metal; plastic; paper and card; food waste; and garden waste.

The following link provides the extended list of packaging material formats that will have to be collected at kerbside and within businesses: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consistency-in-household-and-business-recycling-in-england/outcome/government-response

What are the new requirements?

• all local authorities in England must collect the same recyclable waste streams for recycling or composting from households. The recyclable waste streams include paper and card, plastic, glass, metal, food waste, and garden waste.

• all non-household municipal premises in England (such as businesses, schools and hospitals), must make arrangements to have the same set of recyclable waste streams  (with the exception of garden waste) collected for recycling or composting, and must present their waste in accordance with the arrangements.

What are the timelines for the roll-out of the new recycling rules?

• Businesses recycling collections:  business will be legally required to collect all specified packaging materials for recycling by 31^st March 2025, except soft plastics which is by 31 March 2027 (though businesses can be offered recycling collections involving many or all of the materials sooner by their contractors).
• Households recycling collections:  councils will be legally required to collect all specified packaging materials for recycling by 31^st March 2026, except soft plastics which is by 31 March 2027 (though councils can collect earlier if that’s possible for them to do so).
• BRC responded to two follow-up Defra consultations on 1) extending the scope of non-household premises list and 2) introducing of an exemption to separate recycling and statutory guidance. Our responses can be downloaded below.

What’s next?

• Defra will publish the Draft Regulations introducing the simpler recycling rules and lay them in UK Parliament.
• It will also publish an impact assessment along side the Regulations.

What else to be aware of?

• The introduction of mandatory digital waste tracking across the UK from April 2025 – the service will be publicly available to users on a voluntary basis from next year. This will help track what is happening to the waste produced in the UK,  where it is created, who is handling it, what is done, and where it ends up. Why this is relevant? It will help your business to comply with your duty of care with regard to waste. More is available here.

• New regulations for those transporting and managing waste in England (changes to the waste carrier, broker and dealer regime). What do you need to know? Effectively, there will be more background checks for firms moving or trading waste, ensuring waste is managed safely by approved individuals only. Read more about this here.