What Simpler Recycling rules mean for your wheelie bins

by Chris Taylor March 08, 2025

New UK legislation could mean your business needs more wheelie bins to separate dry recyclables, food waste and non-recyclable rubbish. Effective 31 March 2025, for companies with ten or more employees, the Simpler Recycling rules apply to any workplace that "generates waste similar in nature and composition to household waste".

These workplaces include offices, retail premises, hospitality facilities, care homes, public meeting halls, and many more. Then as of 31 March 2027, the scope of the legislation will expand to include 'micro-firms' with fewer than ten employees.

Why is this being done?

The Simpler Recycling legislation attempts to recover more recyclable materials and ensure waste is of a higher quality once it is recycled. For example, businesses will keep dry recyclables like paper separate from wet waste like leftover food, reducing cross-contamination.

Empty food packaging like metal cans, plastic bottles and glass jars should be rinsed before discarded, reducing potential pollutants in your recycling bins. The government will introduce similar rules for households on 31 March 2026, ensuring that rubbish is recycled the same way at home and work.

Domestic food waste will be collected weekly, helping to reduce odours from your bins.

What types of waste are included?

Under the Simpler Recycling rules, businesses must separate waste into at least three different categories:

Dry recyclables
- Paper and card
- Glass
- Plastic
- Metal
Food waste
- Kitchen waste
- Leftover food
Residual waste
- Unrecyclable packaging
- Contaminated food packaging
- Hygiene products (e.g. nappies)

You should have at least three separate wheelie bins (or other suitable containers) for general, food, and mixed dry recycling if affected. Depending on your business type and waste management contract terms, your provider may require you to have an additional recycling bin for garden waste. You may also need a separate container to keep paper and card away from glass, paper, and metal.

Am I impacted?

It's worth noting that the rules apply to businesses with ten or more employees across all premises, so if you have two locations with five employees each, you must comply with the legislation. With households and micro-firms coming under similar rules over the next two years, ensure you have any new recycling bins you might need and are ready in good time.

Your business doesn't have to be public-facing or part of the hospitality and foodservice industries. Offices with a staff kitchen, educational facilities, and charity shops that accept domestic goods as donations are all within the scope.

If you're unsure whether the legislation applies to you, you might choose to comply anyway. The rules are a sensible way to separate your waste and to reduce the number of different coloured recycling bins you need overall.

What colour recycling bins do I need?

There are no official guidelines on the colour of recycling bins. However, Defra's guidance refers to residual/general waste as "black bin waste". Paper and card are usually disposed of in a blue bin, while mixed dry recyclables (plastic, glass and metal) may be in a brown or red recycling bin, although this varies.

Green recycling bins are usually for garden waste, which your waste management provider may incorporate with food waste under the new rules. Whatever colours you use, it's a good idea to be consistent, and to consider labelling your recycling bins clearly with the kind of waste that can be placed into them, to avoid any accidental contamination.

You should also ensure you have enough of each type of bin, with smaller wheelie bins for waste that must be taken a long way to reach its collection point, so it's easier and safer to move on bin day.

Are you ready to recycle?

If you're affected by the new Simpler Recycling legislation, follow our simple three-step plan to get ready to recycle:

Identify the different types and quantities of waste you produce.
Speak to your waste management provider about the size and colour of recycling bins you need.
Contact Wheelie Bin Solutions to get new recycling bins in the correct colours and sizes.

We have commercial wheelie bins in sizes from 120 litres right up to 1,100-litre industrial wheelie bins, in ten different colours and a choice of plastic or metal — offering everything you need to get your recyclables organised under the new Simpler Recycling rules.