Separate collection of waste paper, plastic, metal or glass
Public and private waste collectors must follow the regulation on collecting certain wastes separately.
Waste collectors
If you collect waste you may need to set up separate collections of waste for:
- paper (includes card and cardboard)
- plastic
- metal
- glass
This means collecting these 4 wastes separately from each other and from other wastes. This applies to commercial (trade), industrial and household waste.
You must do this if it is necessary to help prepare waste for re-use, recycling or other recovery operations. This is in line with Articles 4 and 13 of the Waste Framework Directive.
You must do this to increase the:
- quantity of waste for recycling
- quality of recycled material (by lowering the level of contamination)
See the regulation for details.
You should help businesses producing waste to avoid putting paper, plastic, metal or glass in the same container as their general waste.
How to comply
You must show that you are taking reasonable measures to follow the regulation.
You should periodically check your collection systems to make sure you continue to meet the requirements of the regulation.
Conditions where this requirement does not apply
You may not need to collect waste paper, metal, plastic or glass separately if:
- collecting the wastes together results in output which is of comparable quality to that achieved through separate collection
- doing so does not give the best environmental outcome, considering the overall environmental impacts of managing the relevant waste streams
- it is not technically feasible, considering good practices in waste collection
Another reason you may not need to collect these 4 wastes separately is if this leads to disproportionate economic costs, taking into account:
- the costs of negative environmental and health impacts of mixed waste collection and treatment
- the potential for efficiency improvements in waste collection and treatment
- revenues from sales of secondary raw materials
- the application of the ‘polluter pays’ principle and extended producer responsibility
If you decide not to collect the 4 wastes separately, you should keep evidence of your evaluation, analysis and decisions (known as an audit trail). You may need to present this to your environmental regulator if asked for it.
Waste producers: the implications
The legal requirement to separately collect paper, plastic, metal and glass only applies to waste collectors.
However, waste producers may find more opportunities to separate these 4 wastes because the collector offers a separate collection service for them.
Waste producers have a legal duty to take all reasonable steps to apply the waste hierarchy and correctly dispose of their waste.
Keeping separately collected dry recyclables apart
You must not mix separately collected paper, plastic, metal or glass with other material with different properties.
You must do this if it is necessary to help prepare waste for re-use, recycling or other recovery operations. This is in line with Articles 4 and 13 of the Waste Framework Directive.
This regulation applies to waste carriers and operators receiving waste, for example waste treatment facilities.
Conditions where this requirement does not apply
The requirement not to mix separately collected paper, plastic, metal or glass does not apply where:
- wastes were collected co-mingled, for example plastic and metal together
- mixing certain types of waste together results in output which is of comparable quality to that achieved through keeping waste separate
- doing so does not give the best environmental outcome, considering the overall environmental impacts of managing the relevant waste streams
- it is not technically feasible, considering good practices in waste collection
Another condition where this requirement does not apply is if it would lead to disproportionate economic costs, taking into account:
- the costs of adverse environmental and health impacts of mixed waste collection and treatment
- the potential for efficiency improvements in waste collection and treatment
- revenues from sales of secondary raw materials
- the application of the ‘polluter pays’ principle and extended producer responsibility
Restriction on sending separately collected waste for incineration or landfill
The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 have been amended to introduce a statutory permit condition for:
- landfill
- waste incineration plant
- small waste incineration plant
- waste co-incineration plant operators
This is to prevent waste that was separately collected for re-use or recycling from being accepted for landfill or incineration.
Where separately collected waste is treated (for example by sorting in a material recycling facility), you may landfill or incinerate waste from that treatment which is unsuitable for recycling if it gives the best environmental outcome in line with the waste hierarchy.
Enforcement
The Environment Agency enforces these regulations in England. See the Environment Agency enforcement and sanctions policy.
Updates to this page
Published 19 December 2014Last updated 1 October 2020 + show all updates
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Updated the guidance to reflect the changes introduced by The Waste (Circular Economy) (Amendment) Regulations 2020.
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First published.