Simpler recycling: workplace recycling in England
Workplace recycling in England changed on 31 March 2025. Guidance for all businesses, charities and public sector organisations on separating recyclable waste.
Applies to England
These rules came into force on 31 March 2025. Micro-firms (with fewer than 10 full-time equivalent employees) have until 31 March 2027.
All workplaces in England must separate their waste before it’s collected, including any waste produced by employees, customers and visitors.
You must always separate:
- dry recyclable materials (plastic, metal, glass, paper and card)
- food waste
- non-recyclable waste (also called residual waste)
You can have separate bins for each type of waste or separate the waste before collection. If you provide bins for your customers or visitors, you need to separate this before collection too.
You can decide on the size of containers and frequency of collections based on the volume of waste you produce.
If your business or workplace generates garden waste, you must arrange for it to be recycled or composted if it delivers the best environmental outcome.
Workplaces that must follow these rules
The rules apply to all businesses, charities and public sector organisations including:
- offices
- retail and wholesale, such as supermarkets, pharmacies, convenience stores, garden centres, and service station forecourts
- transport, such as trains, train stations, buses and coaches, bus stations, domestic vessels and ports, and airports
- hospitality, such as cafes, restaurants, pubs, take-aways, and hotels
- holiday parks, campsites and short-term rentals such as cottages or lodges
- entertainment and sports venues, such as cinemas, theatres, galleries, theme parks, zoos, stadiums and arenas
- agricultural premises, including shows, showgrounds and markets
- construction sites
- warehouses
- manufacturing facilities, factories, and workshops
- venues for temporary events such as festivals and shows, including outdoor events
- places of education, such as schools, colleges, and universities
- healthcare places, such as GP surgeries and hospitals
- care homes
- charities and those registered as charities
- places of worship
- penal institutes
- charity shops selling donated goods that came from a domestic property
- residential hostels that provide accommodation to people with no other permanent address or who are unable to live at their permanent address only
- premises used only or mainly for public meetings
This is not a complete list. If you generate waste that is similar in nature and composition to household waste, you are likely to be in scope of the requirements.
Guidance for your sector
Find specific guidance for each sector on the WRAP website, which is funded by Defra.
The website also includes a waste calculator. This gives you the potential cost of waste collection services and ideas to improve waste efficiency.
Separating recyclable waste
You must always separate dry recyclable waste, food waste and non-recyclable waste from each other, before it is collected.
You should discuss how your dry recyclable waste will be collected with your chosen waste collector.
You need to separate paper and card from other dry recyclables (plastic, metal and glass), unless your waste collector collects them together. Waste collectors may also choose to collect other dry recyclable materials separately, like glass.
Dry recyclable waste
Dry recyclable waste is:
- glass - such as drinks bottles and rinsed empty food jars
- metal - such as drinks cans and rinsed empty food tins, empty aerosols, aluminium foil, aluminium food trays and tubes
- plastic - such as rinsed empty food containers and bottles
- paper and cardboard - such as newspapers, envelopes, boxes and cardboard food packaging
Food waste
You must collect food waste, even if the workplace does not serve food or have a kitchen. There is no minimum food waste weight.
Food waste might include:
- any leftovers from staff lunches
- banana skins and apple cores
- coffee grounds and tea bags
- waste from food preparation, such as onion skins
Packaging labelled ‘compostable’ or ‘biodegradable’ cannot be recycled with food waste.
Caddy liners (including compostable liners) used to hold food waste can be collected.
Items not collected
You should provide clear information for your employees, customers and visitors about what can and cannot be recycled in each bin.
The following lists give examples of items that are not typically collected in dry recycling collections. These are not complete lists. You should check with your waste collector.
Glass
Items not collected include:
- candles
- drinking glasses
- flat glass
- glass cookware (such as Pyrex)
- light bulbs and tubes
- microwave plates
- mirrors
- vases
- window glass
- ceramics, such as crockery or earthenware
Metal
Items not collected include:
- laminated foil, like pet food pouches and coffee pouches
- electrical items and batteries
- general kitchenware like cutlery, pots and pans
- kettles
- irons
- pipes
- packaging that has contained white spirits, paints, engine oils or antifreeze
Plastic
Items not collected include:
- any plastic packaging or non-packaging items labelled as ‘compostable’ or ‘biodegradable’, including coffee pods
- packaging that has contained white spirits, paints, engine oils or antifreeze
- bulky rigid plastics such as garden furniture, bins and plastic toys
- polystyrene (expanded and high impact) packaging such as packing beads
- polyvinyl chloride (PVC) packaging
Paper and card
Items not collected include:
- tissues or toilet paper
- absorbent hygiene products (AHPs) including nappies, period products and incontinence products
- cotton wool or makeup pads
- wet wipes
Finding a waste collector
You should discuss the requirements with your waste collector and arrange separate dry recycling, food waste and non-recyclable waste collection. The waste collector can be a private waste collector or your local authority may also provide services.
If your current waste collector does not offer the full range of collection services, you will need to arrange these services from other providers.
You must make sure that the company is registered on the Public Register of Waste Carriers, Brokers and Dealers.
Businesses will continue to pay for their own waste management services.
Micro-firm exemption until 31 March 2027
Micro-firms have fewer than 10 full-time equivalent employees. This relates to the total number of employees in a business, rather than at a certain business location. For example, a business with 3 locations and 5 employees in each location is not a micro-firm (as it has 15 employees in total). Recycling must be separated at all locations.
To count part-time employees, add a fraction based on pro-rated hours. Volunteers do not count towards the total.
Micro-firms have until 31 March 2027 to comply. You do not need to register or apply for this temporary exemption.
Legal requirement for workplaces
Businesses and workplaces have a legal duty to ensure waste disposal is safe, secure and legal and take all reasonable steps to keep waste to a minimum.
If your landlord employs a waste company for you, or you have a waste management contractor, this company has a legal obligation to make sure any separately collected dry recyclables are sent for recycling and that any non-recyclable waste is correctly managed.
If you do not comply with these requirements by 31 March 2025 (or 31 March 2027 for micro-firms), you are at risk of receiving a compliance notice from the Environment Agency (EA).
Compliance notices can also be issued against anyone who is not separating waste in agreement with their waste collector. This will often be the waste producers, for example the business, but this may also be the landlords or facilities management companies that are presenting waste on behalf of the waste producer.
It is an offence to fail to comply with a compliance notice and enforcement action may be taken against you in line with the EA’s Enforcement and Sanctions policy.
Legal requirement for waste collectors
Waste collectors have a legal duty to make sure that dry recyclable materials (plastic, metal, glass, paper and card) and food waste are collected separately from non-recyclable waste.
Paper and card must be collected separately from plastic, metal and glass. However, if this is not technically or economically practicable, or has no significant environmental benefit, the waste collector can complete a written co-collection assessment.
Compliance notices can also be issued against a waste collector (excluding a Waste Collection Authority) that is not complying with the rules.
Once collected, waste that has been separated for recycling cannot be mixed with other materials of different properties after. Waste separated for recycling cannot be disposed to landfill or incineration.
Reporting non-compliance
From April 2025, the general public and other parties will be able to report workplaces that do not follow these rules to the Environment Agency.
This guidance will be updated with information on how to report non-compliance when it is available.
Updates to this page
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Workplace recycling rules in England changed on 31 March 2025. All businesses, charities and public sector organisations must separate their waste for recycling. We've updated the guidance to further clarify which workplaces must follow these rules and what waste must be recycled.
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First published.