The Government introduced the ‘Simpler Recycling’ policy from 31st March 2025, meaning that convenience stores in England that produce waste collected in customer facing bins or from their business operations must separate and present their waste to their waste collector into the following four waste streams:
Retailers with more than 10 full time equivalent (FTE) employees need to comply with the Simpler Recycling policy. The 10 FTE employees threshold applies to the whole business, not individual sites. Businesses with less than 10 full time equivalent employees are exempt from Simpler Recycling until 31st March 2027.
You should contact your waste collector immediately to check what provision they have in place to deal with the introduction of Simpler Recycling and any additional costs you may face as a result. Your existing waste collector could be a private provider (for example Biffa, Veolia, Suez, Viridor) or your local authority.
If you have customer facing waste bins in your store or outside your store that you are responsible for disposing the waste from, you will have to introduce new bins to enable your customers to separate their waste. This should be supported by clear signage encouraging customers to separate out their waste correctly.
Download the Simpler Recycling guide here
Workplace Recycling Regulations in Wales took effect on 6 April 2024. The regulations introduced additional waste streams, including unsold textiles and sWEEE (small Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment). For full details, please refer to the Code of Practice for Wales.
