New Waste Legislation Changes: What Businesses Need to Know Ahead of March 31, 2025
On 31st March 2025, significant changes to waste management practices will take effect across England, impacting all businesses with over 10 employees and their waste. These changes are part of the government’s Simpler Recycling Legislation, aimed at streamlining waste collection services and improving recycling rates across the country.
Businesses and households will be required to use a minimum of four main waste streams:
- Residual Waste – non-recyclable waste
- Food Waste – including garden waste where appropriate
- Paper and Card – all paper products and cardboard
- Dry Recyclables – plastic, metal, and glass
The new legislation means that your business will likely require waste equipment or machinery that can help manage these four distinct categories of waste.
How we can help
Landfill Alternatives specialise in supplying waste management systems and machines for a whole range of businesses. Some solutions you might consider for the new waste streams include:
Residual Waste
Waste is best managed using our MPB 10 and APB 20 portable compactors or SC 2 static compactors which reduce transportation costs. They are easy to use and can be hand fed, forklift fed or fitted with a bin lift.
For smaller quantities, an In-Bin or Block Compactor enables you to achieve maximum amount of space in your bins and skips.
Food Waste
Our MPB 10’s are part of our Portable Compactor range meaning they are collected by a chain lift lorry, taken off site, emptied and returned. As waste is both unsightly and often smelly, one of the key advantages of a portable compactor is that it can compress everything into a fully sealed, watertight chamber. This ensures that there is no leakage of waste or odours—unlike conventional bins or skips, reducing vermin issues and other undesirable consequences. They are also small enough to fit in to roughly the space of a car park bay.
Digestor are another alternative to dispose of food waste by converting food waste into a milky white water, using added enzymes. They do require a warm water feed, single phase supply and foul water drain but can process up to 180kg of food over a 24 hour period.
Paper and Cardboard Products
Our range of balers are ideal for managing your cardboard and are available in a range of sizes to suit your waste volumes. Capable of producing bales from 50kg to 500kg mill sized bales, our large variety of machines enable you to segregate, compact and recycle cardboard, paper, plastic and more from your waste stream. Bales can then generate a rebate for you, dependant on bale size and how many bales you can store.
An alternative to cardboard baling is our LFA Roto Compactor. This can be continuously fed. The waste is compacted into a heavy duty plastic bag which can then be disposed of.
Dry Recyclables
Plastic, metal and glass need to be disposed of using different methods. Rigid plastics would require a baler or granulator. Granulators turn pieces of plastic into small pellet sizes and can be sold on for a premium.
Stuff frames are small metal frames which enable you to capture loose plastic conveniently. The frame has a choke section which forces the plastic to compact into a bag. This enables you to push 3-4 times more plastic into the bag. Full bags can then be processed through a baler to make a full bale.
For sites with excess glass, such as bars and hotels, glass crushers provide a space saving solution. Glass bottles are crushed with a rotating hammer into small pieces of cullet, saving space in your bins by up to 80%.
Legislation will come into effect by March 31, 2025. Businesses in England must arrange for the collection of the core recyclable waste streams (food waste, paper and card, glass, metal, plastic). Businesses with fewer than 10 full-time equivalent employees will be exempt until March 31, 2027.
As the deadline for businesses approaches, now is the perfect time to evaluate your current waste and ensure that your business is ready for these new collection requirements.
Contact Landfill Alternatives to learn more about the systems featured in this article. We offer complimentary on-site audits, where a member of our sales team will assess your waste management needs and recommend the most suitable system for your site. Whether you’re interested in new or refurbished equipment, we provide flexible options, including leasing terms from 1 to 5 years or the option to purchase outright.
