Simpler Recycling: what City of London businesses must do

What is Simpler Recycling?

Simpler Recycling is the name for England’s recycling reforms made under the Environment Act 2021. The Act amended the Environmental Protection Act 1990 so that households and workplaces must have the same core set of materials collected for recycling, wherever they are in England.

For businesses, the change is simple to describe: you can no longer put everything in one general waste bin. Recyclable materials and food waste have to be kept apart from the rest and collected separately.

The rules cover England only. Wales and Scotland have their own workplace recycling rules.

Who it applies to and when

The rules apply to “relevant non-domestic premises”. In practice that means almost every workplace, including:

• offices, including serviced and shared offices
• shops and retail units
• restaurants, cafés, pubs, bars and hotels
• schools, colleges and universities
• hospitals, surgeries and care homes
• charities, places of worship and other public buildings

There are two deadlines:

• 31 March 2025: businesses and organisations with 10 or more FTE employees. This deadline has passed, so if you’re in this group you should already be compliant.
• 31 March 2027: micro-firms with fewer than 10 FTE employees.

The employee count is generally based on the business as a whole rather than one site, so a small City branch of a larger firm is likely to be in scope already. If you’re close to the line, or unsure how to count part-time staff, check the latest GOV.UK guidance.

Shared and managed buildings

Many City offices sit in multi-let buildings where the landlord or managing agent arranges one waste contract for every tenant. In that case whoever arranges the collection needs to provide the separate streams, and tenants need to use them properly. If you’re not sure who holds the contract, ask your building manager or check your lease.

The three waste streams

1. Dry recycling

Dry recycling covers four material groups:

• Paper and card: office paper, envelopes, cardboard boxes and packaging
• Plastic: bottles, pots, tubs and trays
• Metal: drinks cans, food tins and clean foil
• Glass: bottles and jars

You don’t need four bins. The rules allow all dry recycling to be collected together in one container, or paper and card in one container and the other materials together in another. For most City offices with a small bin store, one mixed recycling bin is the practical choice. Restaurants and bars producing a lot of glass often keep it separate anyway, because it’s heavy and easy to recycle on its own.

Plastic film, such as wrappers and carrier bags, is due to be added for workplaces by 31 March 2027. Check the GOV.UK guidance for the current position before you plan around it.

2. Food waste

Food waste must be collected separately from general waste. That includes plate scrapings, preparation waste, out-of-date stock, tea bags and coffee grounds. Almost every workplace with a kitchen or a tea point produces some, so most offices need at least a small food caddy.

3. General (residual) waste

General waste is what’s left once recycling and food have been taken out. It should get noticeably smaller once the other streams are running.

Some waste was already controlled before Simpler Recycling and still is: electricals (WEEE), batteries, fluorescent tubes, chemicals and confidential paper all need their own routes. Our recycling and WEEE service covers the common ones.

What it means for a City office

• Swap under-desk bins for shared recycling points, so waste is sorted where it’s produced.
• Put a food caddy next to every tea point and kitchen, not just the main canteen.
• Check what your cleaners do. If they empty every bin into one bag at the end of the day, the separation is lost before it reaches the bin store.
• Make sure the bin store has room for the extra containers, or increase collection frequency rather than container size.
• Ask your contractor what goes in the dry recycling bin. Takeaway coffee cups, for example, are not accepted everywhere.

What it means for a restaurant, café or bar

• Food waste is usually your biggest stream. Use lidded bins in the kitchen and plan collections so they never sit overnight in warm weather.
• Keep glass in its own bins where volumes are high. Bottle bins get heavy fast, so collect often.
• Flatten delivery cardboard and keep it dry. Wet card is harder to recycle.
• Time collections around service and your street’s loading restrictions, not in the middle of lunch.
• Keep the bin store clean. Separate food bins help, and regular bin store jet washing keeps smells and pests down.

Our restaurant and hospitality waste page explains how we schedule food, glass and general waste for City venues.

How to set it up

1. Audit what you throw away. Look inside your bins for a week. Note how much is card, mixed recycling, food and genuinely general waste.
2. Choose your streams and containers. Most offices need mixed dry recycling, food and general. Busy kitchens may add glass and separate card.
3. Place and label the bins. Use the same colours and pictures on every floor, and say what doesn’t go in each bin as well as what does.
4. Brief staff and cleaners. A five-minute briefing and a note in the kitchen does more than a long policy document. Include new starters.
5. Get the contractor paperwork right. Each stream should be covered by a waste transfer note that describes it accurately. Keep them for at least two years. Our waste transfer notes guide explains what they should contain.
6. Review after a month. Check for overflowing bins and contamination, then adjust bin sizes or collection days.

Who enforces Simpler Recycling?

In England, the Environment Agency is responsible for enforcing workplace recycling. It can take action against businesses that don’t arrange separate collections. How it applies that in practice can change, so check the latest GOV.UK guidance rather than relying on second-hand summaries.

Simpler Recycling sits on top of your existing duty of care. You still need to use a registered waste carrier, describe your waste accurately and keep transfer notes. The easiest way to show you comply is a contractor who collects each stream separately and gives you paperwork for each one.

How we help

We run separated recycling and food waste collections alongside general waste for offices, restaurants and managed buildings across the City, with a waste transfer note for each stream. See our commercial waste collection and recycling services, or ask for a quote and we’ll suggest a setup that fits your bin store.

This guide is a summary for England as of October 2026, not legal advice. Source: Simpler Recycling: workplace recycling in England (GOV.UK).