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New 'Simpler Recycling' and Waste Legislation Information - Read here ›

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CHANGES FOR BUSINESS WASTE MANAGEMENT

Simpler Recycling 2025

Why J&B Recycling

What are the changes for business waste management in 2025?

The UK Government’s introduction of simpler recycling collections and tougher regulations from March 2025 is set to transform the waste management landscape for businesses. As these changes take effect, they aim to create a more standardised approach to recycling across the country, ensuring businesses can meet sustainability goals more efficiently while complying with stricter regulations.

For J&B Recycling’s customers, this new legislation means that waste collection services will become more consistent and transparent, with clearer guidelines on how to separate recyclable materials. While this will streamline recycling processes, it also introduces more rigorous regulations for waste producers, ensuring businesses take greater responsibility for their environmental impact.

J&B Recycling is fully prepared to guide your business through these changes. We’ll help you stay ahead of the new requirements, ensuring compliance with the latest standards while optimising your waste management systems. From tailored advice to hands-on support, we’re here to make this transition as smooth as possible, so you can continue to run your business sustainably.

What is ‘simpler recycling’ legislation 2025?

In Autumn 2023, the UK government announced its plans to introduce the ‘Simpler Recycling’ legislation to reform waste collection and recycling in the UK. The 2025 changes to business waste management aim to reduce the environmental impact of the commercial sector. This will be achieved by establishing a circular economy where products are reused, repaired and recycled much more. Companies will be held more accountable for their business waste and need to take tangible steps to contribute towards the UK’s wider goal of reducing the volume of waste going to landfill.

In real terms, the new simpler recycling and changes to business waste means that all businesses with over 10 employees will be required to segregate their food waste, general waste and dry mixed recycling. This means that more materials can be recycled efficiently, which is beneficial to the environment but may also save business owners money as commercial recycling becomes cheaper compared to disposing of general waste with the proposed increase in landfill tax.

Simpler Recycling 2025 | Changes to Business Waste Management
Changes to business waste management in 2025 include the requirement to segregate business waste

How will the simpler recycling legislation affect my business?

If you have a business with more than 10 employees, you will likely be affected by the changes to business waste management in 2025. You will need to segregate your business waste into the following materials, which may mean the introduction of more or different front end solutions and working with a local waste management provider to schedule waste collections.

  • Dry Mixed Recycling*

  • General Waste

  • Food waste

*Unlike changes to household recycling, which are still currently under review, businesses will be able to choose how they manage dry mixed recycling. Business can choose to separate more of their recycling waste at source, or they can choose comingled recycling, where all materials are mixed together and separated by their waste management partner. 

Why is the new simpler recycling and food waste legislation being introduced?

An important change for business waste management in 2025, Simpler Recycling is designed to reduce the volume of waste going into landfill, by encouraging businesses to recycle more waste and equally as importantly to recycle correctly to reduce contamination. Contamination is a significant issue that can reduce the quality of recycled materials and make the recycling process more difficult. Often non-deliberate, this happens when materials are placed in the wrong bins. At best this means the separation process at recycling plants is more time consuming and costly and at worst it means the entire load becomes unrecyclable.

While the changes in business waste management aim to encourage more recycling of all recyclable materials, there is a significant focus on the reduction of food waste. This is because each year in the UK, 9.5 million tonnes of food waste is thrown away, one third of all food waste globally goes to waste and billions of pounds are wasted each year when food is disposed of unnecessarily or incorrectly. There is a popular misconception that food waste is not problematic as it decomposes over time, but the vast majority ends up in landfill sites which contributes to global warming and the erosion of the ozone layer.

J&B Recycling can provide a business food waste collection whereby it is collected separately from general or mixed waste. It can then be processed into good quality soil improver or fertiliser and used to generate electricity that is fed back into the national grid.

Preparing your business for changes to waste management in 2025

Regardless of your premises size, location or sector, if your business employs more than 10 employees, it’s essential to start preparing for the 2025 changes to business waste management. We recommend you take action now:

Simpler Recycling 2025 legalisation includes the requirement to segregate food waste

PREPARE FOR SIMPLER RECYCLING 2025

1. Reduce food waste in your business

Business waste management is easier when there is less waste to begin with. Your waste reduction strategy will vary depending on your industry, but some practical tips for general office based businesses are to ensure there is sufficient space to store food correctly at the correct temperature, ensure all staff label food items stored in communal areas, donate unwanted food items that are still in date to a local food bank, ensure buffet food from meetings is immediately refrigerated to prevent spoiling.

Simpler Recycling 2025 legalisation includes the requirement to segregate business waste

PREPARE FOR SIMPLER RECYCLING 2025

2. Ensure you have the correct front end solutions for your recycling

Ensure you have the correct front-end solutions in place by using clearly labelled, colour-coded bins to differentiate between general waste, recycling, and food waste. This helps your team easily separate waste, reducing contamination and improving recycling efficiency.

Simpler Recycling 2025 legalisation includes the requirement to segregate office waste

PREPARE FOR SIMPLER RECYCLING 2025

3. Start segregating your business waste now

Don’t wait until the business waste laws change in 2025, start making changes as soon as possible so your team gets into the habit of separating different types of waste streams and they understand how to do it correctly. Educate your team so that every single member of staff knows what can and can’t be recycled. J&B Recycling will work with you to help educate your workforce about good recycling practices. We have lots of FREE resources we can share with you including a guide to recycling symbols and downloadable posters that can be installed in communal areas as a reminder of how to recycle correctly.

Simpler Recycling 2025 | J&B Recycling, commercial waste management

PREPARE FOR SIMPLER RECYCLING 2025

4. Find a North East waste management solution

If your business is currently not required to recycle you will need to partner with a local waste management firm. If you do recycle, you may need to make changes to your current operations and scheduled waste collections. J&B Recycling are proud to recycle in excess of 12,000 tonnes of plastic bottles, 29,000 tonnes of glass and 36,000 tonnes of paper and cardboard each year. We provide a full end-to-end waste management and recycling service which produces the highest quality end-products with an industry leading 99% recycling rate. 

Why is J&B Recycling your trusted partner for waste management?

Operating at the highest environmental and health and safety standards, we provide a complete portfolio of services to meet the changing requirements of commercial waste management, from collection and sorting, to processing and recycling.

Clients that have chosen J&B Recycling as their trusted partner for responsible waste management include many local councils, Lidl Distribution Centre, Greencroft Bottling, Paxtons agricultural machinery, Middlesbrough College and Thirteen Housing Group, in addition to a variety of other business in the construction, manufacturing, facilities, retail and hospitality industries.

We pride ourselves in responsible waste management and our recycling processes are amongst the most efficient available, generating almost zero waste while producing the highest quality recycled materials. Experts in the waste management industry, we are here to offer insight and guidance every step of the way:

  • Free waste management quote

  • Waste audit

  • Help calculating bin sizes required

  • A wide variety of bins tailored to meet your specific needs

  • Scheduled waste collections

  • Ongoing waste management support

Some other changes to business waste legislation include:

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