The Draft Separation of Waste (England) Regulations 2025 replaces those of 2024 which aimed to allow the combined collection of specific recycling streams in domestic settings within business operations. The changes were made under the Environment Act 2021 which amended the Environmental Protection Act 1990, and originally came into force in May 2024 as the Separation of Waste (England) Regulations SI 2024/666.
It applies to the following waste streams, and requires them to be recycled or composted and also to be collected separately from each other (unless it is not technically or economically practicable to do so or the separate collection will have no significant environmental benefit):
- glass;
- metal;
- plastic;
- paper and card;
- food waste;
- garden waste (domestic only).
Policy Update
The new government has issued a policy update on simpler recycling under this amendment. There is a transitional period to allow time for businesses to adjust to the new requirement for separately collected recyclables. Currently the grace period runs until 31st March 2025 when businesses will be required to present recyclable wastes separately to meet the following conditions:
- recyclable relevant waste (i.e. glass, metal, plastic, paper, card and food waste) must be collected separately from other relevant waste;
- that recyclable waste must be collected for recycling or composting;
- the recyclable waste in each waste stream must be collected separately, except where it is not technically or economically feasible or if separate collection has no significant environmental benefit*;
- if collected co-mingled, glass, metal, plastic, paper and card cannot be collected together with food waste.
The Draft Separation of Waste (England) Regulations 2025 which will, if introduced into law, allow the collection together of any combination of:
- metal;
- glass;
- plastic.
This essentially means that moving forward, every premises in England will have to use four different waste containers for:
- general waste;
- dry mixed recycling (metal, glass and plastic);
- paper and card;
- food waste (this can be combined with garden waste in the case of households).
All of the requirements above apply to household waste, or to commercial and industrial waste that is of a household nature (referred to as “relevant recyclable waste”). To clarify what this means, the Government has published the Separation of Waste (England) Regulations SI 2024/666 which set out descriptions of the waste that is considered to be recyclable within each of the named waste streams.
In addition, that Draft also aims to apply a transitional period to micro-firms. This means that any business with fewer than 10 full-time equivalent employees will not have to comply with the separate collection of waste requirements until 31 March 2027. This essentially gives those businesses a two-year grace period.
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