A survey of more than 200 businesses, by metal recycling and waste management specialist Ward has found that 62% of respondents have made no preparations for Simpler Recycling legislation, coming into force early 2025.

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) consulted on the planned Simpler Recycling in 2023 publishing the consultation finding earlier this year, stating that “reform to the recycling system which means that people across England will be able to recycle the same materials, whether at home, work or school, putting an end to the confusion over what can and cannot be recycled in different parts of the country.”

The survey sought views on the upcoming legislation, general levels of understanding and what plans were in place to prepare for the new rules, which aim to simplify and standardise recycling across businesses and households in England.

Encouragingly, 71% of respondents knew about the Simpler Recycling legislation, 90% felt they had good knowledge of what was required and 60% felt that they knew what they needed to do to prepare. However, 62% of respondents had yet made no provision at all for the new legislation.

Donald Ward, Operations Director at Ward, said: “In its latest update, the government stated that the new default requirement for most households and workplaces will be four containers for residual (non-recyclable) waste, food waste (mixed with garden waste if appropriate), paper and card, plus all other dry recyclable materials (plastic, metal and glass). These may be various container types, including bags, bins or stackable boxes.”

“As much as there is positive intention to simplify waste streams, improve recycling effectiveness and reduce waste to landfill, there are some practical considerations to businesses to adopting these measures. The top concern from the survey was cost, with 60% of respondents naming this as a main barrier. A further 39% said space constraints and 31% cited lack of time as other main factors that prevent them from segregating and recycling waste.”

“There are many ways businesses can address these issues, for example, a free and simple waste audit can quickly assess the volume and type of waste. From there, you work out a plan of the required container sizes and optimise collections to achieve the best value for money.  For larger businesses, using a provider which offers site visits to set up effective recycling areas and gives customers access to an online portal is a good way to monitor and evaluate different waste streams. From that management data, businesses are then able to make more informed decisions about recycling rates and ways to make improvements and adjustments to waste collections.”

Respondents also shared that some types of waste were more problematic than others to recycle. Hazardous was considered most difficult by 32%, closely followed by construction waste at 28%, Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) at 27% and food waste at 26%.

Head of Sales (Waste) at Ward, Heather Foo, added: “Depending on their size and type of activities, some businesses will be more affected than others with Simpler Recycling. A multi-premises business employing more than 10 full-time equivalent employees will be required to segregate residual waste, food waste, paper and card, and all other dry mixed recycling in four specific containers and arrange the appropriate collection services by 31st March 2025. Microbusinesses (those with less than 10 FTE employees) are currently exempt from these requirements until 31st March 2027, but as a wider sustainability measure it would be beneficial to implement in advance of legalisation.

“New guidance was issued by DEFRA in late November 2024, so now is a good time to start planning for Q1 2025 to get a solution for Simpler Recycling in place in time for the March 2025 deadline.”

A copy of Ward’s Simpler Recycling Report findings can be found here: https://www.ward.com/simpler-recycling/.