We are fast approaching the 31 March 2025 deadline, set by Defra under Simpler Recycling rules, for businesses*, schools and hospitals (amongst others) in England to separate dry recyclables and food waste for collection.
Simpler Recycling rules are designed to drive up commercial recycling rates and increase consistency in what we can recycle at home, work and leisure. This means that all businesses – from an office building with thousands of employees to a corner shop – must separate their recyclables and food waste, no matter how small the amount.
For ‘big’ businesses, this should actually see cost savings, as recycling services are inherently cheaper than general waste. However, smaller businesses could end up paying more under the requirement for separate services, as previously they might have only had one collection and now will have to pay for two or three.
Many small businesses in London also have limited space to store multiple waste streams, and will face challenges in terms of putting out their recycling and rubbish for collection on busy high streets. It’s not yet been confirmed how these regulations will be enforced, but it’s clear that business engagement will be key to the success of this policy.
Defra have commissioned WRAP to develop a set of resources, the Business of Recycling, to help businesses understand the new requirements and support them with planning and setting up their new recycling process.
On the collections side, these changes will see an increased demand for commercial recycling services, particularly food waste collections. According to ReLondon’s own analysis of London’s food footprint, over 500,000 tonnes of food is wasted from processing and manufacturing wholesale, retail and food service businesses in London every year.
However, this figure does not account for the vast amounts of food wasted across other business sectors, with very limited data publicly available in order to make a meaningful estimate.
Private waste collectors are well prepared for this demand, benefiting from economies of scale across local authority boundaries and geared up ready to take on all the new business that will come with Simpler Recycling.
However, many local authorities do not have a commercial food waste service in place: of the 27 London boroughs who offer a commercial recycling service, only 11 have food waste as part of that offer.
This presents then a huge opportunity for local authorities to grow their market share and income through introducing a commercial food waste recycling service (or expanding an existing one).
Back in 2021, ReLondon and the Greater London Authority hosted a series of workshops with commercial waste officers from local authorities across London and beyond.
These workshops explored experience in service planning, operations, marketing and business engagement; and the main learning points were used to develop ReLondon’s Commercial food waste recycling services toolkit, a useful guide for local authorities looking to establish a new food waste service or expand an existing one.
This toolkit includes guidance across all aspects of service planning and delivery, underpinned by local authority insight and evidence from eight local authority contributors – for example, the London Borough of Bexley’s ‘heat maps’ which they used to establish where food waste-producing businesses are located within the borough; and Westminster City Council’s ‘buyer personas’ which they used to inform their marketing strategy.
The toolkit has recently been re-issued to reflect policy updates including Defra’s timescales for rolling out Simpler Recycling – and as the deadline gets closer, it’s never been more timely for local authorities to take a look and start the detailed planning needed for them to make the most of what could be an invaluable new revenue stream at a time when many are facing severe funding challenges.
Freya Rose is an advisor to local authorities at ReLondon.
*Businesses with fewer than 10 full-time equivalent employees (‘micro firms’) have an extended deadline of 31 March 2027.
ReLondon has additional resources available to local authorities, including toolkits and dedicated business waste pages on the London Recycles website.
ReLondon can also provide dedicated support to individual local authorities on their commercial recycling and waste services. Please contact hello@relondon.gov.uk for any support requests.
