Simpler recycling - commercial waste

From 31 March 2025, all workplaces and non-domestic premises (businesses, schools, hospitals, charity shops and so on) across England will be required to separate key recyclable materials under the government’s Simpler Recycling legislation: GOV.UK - Simpler recycling: workplace recycling in England. At West Suffolk Council, we make compliance easy with hassle-free commercial waste collections tailored to your needs.

Our service helps your business meet the new legal requirements by providing dedicated collections for mixed recyclable (paper, cardboard, metal, plastic), glass, and food waste - helping you stay compliant while reducing residual waste and cutting costs.

The timeline for implementation is as follows:

  • 31 March 2025 - businesses with 10 or more full-time employees must separate food waste and dry recyclables for collection.
  • 31 March 2027 - micro-firms (businesses with fewer than 10 full-time employees) must separate food waste and dry recyclables for collection. All businesses will also need to separate plastic film packaging and plastic bags in the plastic waste stream.

Legislation requires businesses, schools, hospitals, and other non-household municipal premises to separate dry recycling from general waste collection. Materials for separate collection include:

  • paper and cardboard
  • cartons (Tetrapak)
  • metals (cans, tins, foils)
  • plastic (pots, tubs, and trays)
  • glass (bottles and jars)

Businesses will also be required to separate their food waste, no matter how small the quantity they generate. This is to ensure as much food waste is recycled, which is used to generate clean energy and fertiliser. Included in the food waste stream are all food intended for human or household pet consumption and biodegradable material such as fruit and vegetable skins, tea bags, bones, meat, among others.

All the recycling that we collect is sorted and sent for re-processing for onward recycling. One hundred per cent of the plastic and metal sorted for recycling, stays within the UK. Paper and cardboard are processed within the UK and Europe.

Food waste is sent for processing at an anaerobic digestion facility in East Anglia where it is broken down in large tanks to generate methane gas used to create clean energy. The remaining food waste, once composted, is used as a fertiliser on farmland.

Five waste and recycling bins in front of a bin lorry
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