The Welsh Parliament (the Senedd) passed a new law in the last week of November – the Workplace Recycling Regulations. This will change how all workplaces across the country store, manage and dispose of commercial waste from the start of April 2024.

Businesses, charities, and public and third sector organisations must separate certain recyclable materials and arrange collection away from other waste. Essentially, it means workplaces will legally have to separate paper and card, glass, packaging, food, electrical, and textile waste for recycling like most households already do.

The Senedd is making this a legal requirement to improve recycling rates in Wales and move the country closer to becoming a zero-waste nation and reducing carbon emissions. Failure to comply could result in a fine for your business.

Learn all about the new Workplace Recycling Regulations and how to prepare for them with Business Waste.

The Workplace Recycling Regulations is a new law that legally requires all workplaces in Wales to separate certain waste materials and arrange collection separate from other waste. Businesses, charities, and public sector organisations will need to use bins or containers to store paper and card, glass, packaging, food, unsold small WEEE, and unsold textiles.

Workplaces will no longer be able to put all waste in a single bin if it includes any of these recyclable materials. However, you can use one bin for paper and card, and another to collect metal, plastics, and cartons (packaging) together. Glass must be collected on its own.

Changes to the law around workplace recycling in Wales aim to help the country work towards becoming a zero-waste nation and reducing carbon emissions by 2050. Recycling rates for households in Wales are already high compared to most other countries. Just over 65% of materials collected by local authorities from homes are recycled.

The new Workplace Recycling Regulations aim to replicate these results for businesses and improve recycling rates in Wales across the commercial, charity, and public sectors. Separating and sorting recycling in workplaces should ensure greater volumes of high-quality recycling are produced and much less waste is sent to landfill and for incineration.

There’s also an economic boost by increasing recycling rates across Wales. It helps to keep materials in use for longer, which tackles the rising cost of materials and reduces how much landfill tax businesses pay for their waste management. Greater recycling should also create new and more job opportunities.

Under the new Workplace Recycling Regulations, certain waste materials must be collected separately. This aims to avoid contamination and increase the quantity and quality of individual recycling streams. The following waste materials must be stored and collected separately from other rubbish:

• Paper and card (can be mixed together)
• Metal, plastic, and cartons(can be mixed together)
• Glass recycling
• Food waste – only premises that produce more than 5kg of food waste a week
• Unsold small waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)
• Unsold textiles

Every workplace in Wales is required to follow the new Workplace Recycling Regulations. This includes businesses, charities, and public sector organisations. The occupiers of a workplace must ensure recycling is separated for collection and the new law is followed whether you own, lease, rent, or temporarily occupy the premises.

For any workplace in a shared location, the individual organisations are responsible for complying with the regulations. If a central recycling system is required then you might need an agreement in place with the landlord or facilities manager. The regulations also cover waste and recycling collectors and processors who manage household-like waste from workplaces.

Christmas is the season of giving. But that doesn’t mean presenting your binmen or waste collection company with gifts of extra rubbish to remove this year. It happens though, as UK homes create almost a third more waste over the festive period – and businesses aren’t much better.

For example, around 227,000 miles of wrapping paper and 270,000 tons of food are chucked out every year at Christmas. It’s enough to turn Rudolf’s nose red with anger. Check out our Christmas waste facts for more shameful stats about how much rubbish we churn out every holiday season.

There are many ways to be sustainable at Christmas and give back to the environment. Your decorations, food, and celebrations can be as green as one of Santa’s elves’ outfits with a little effort. Use these sustainable Christmas ideas to enjoy the most wonderful time of the year in an eco-friendly way.

The most sustainable Christmas trees are real ones grown locally in the UK. Once cut a new tree can be planted and grown, which is highly sustainable. Ones sourced locally require less transport, fuel, and carbon emissions too. You should check if any tree is from a sustainable forest (or FSC-certified) before you buy.

Other sustainable Christmas tree ideas include renting a real tree rather than buying one. This can be cost-effective and ensures the tree is replanted in the new year. The tree can have a positive impact on the environment and wildlife throughout the year and be used again next Christmas.

It’s estimated that we send around eight billion Christmas cards in the UK every year. That’s an awful lot of trees chopped down for the paper and card to make them all. Most Christmas cards are recyclable and therefore fairly sustainable, although those featuring glitter, glue, and plastic are trickier to recycle.

Recycling Christmas cards also requires energy and effort, so a more sustainable option can be to consider sending an e-card or simply don’t bother this year. Finding a cute Christmas picture and sending it to friends and family over social media, WhatsApp, or email could suffice and use zero paper and card.

Tinsel is terrible for the environment as the PVC film and metallic coating can’t be separated and recycled. Thankfully, there are many eco-friendly alternatives for decorating your home or workplace in December. These include making a sustainable Christmas wreath from natural items to stringing up solar lights outside or on your Christmas tree.

Handmade decorations, sustainably sourced baubles, and table decorations – including sustainable Christmas crackers – are essential. Avoid plastic decorations and those that use a combination of materials as they’re harder to recycle. One of the most sustainable actions is to simply use the same decorations from last year and store them for many years to come.

Looking for more ways to reduce waste and celebrate a sustainable Christmas this year? We’ve put together a range of expert guides with tips and advice about reducing waste at home and work this festive season.

Umbrellas protect against the UK’s frequent wet and windy weather. The battering they receive from numerous storms adds up after a while though, tearing the material and sometimes snapping their spokes. If you’ve popped up a parasol for the last time or struggled as your umbrella turned inside out once too many, it’s probably time to get rid of it.

Around 1.45 million umbrellas are sold every year in the UK to help keep us dry on those all too common grey and drizzly days. Sales have also increased over the past few years with more than £14 million spent annually on new umbrellas. But what do you do when one reaches the end of its life?

Recycle an umbrella rather than chucking it in the bin where there’s a chance it could end up in landfill. There are various ways to reuse and recover the materials of a broken umbrella. Discover some great umbrella recycling ideas in this guide.

Various businesses can find themselves with umbrellas they need to dispose of as well. It could be shops with excess umbrellas they can’t sell or damaged stock, umbrellas left behind after an event such as a festival, or even manufacturing firms that produce umbrellas having broken items they need to get rid of from a factory.

Umbrellas that any type of business wants to recycle or dispose of class as commercial waste. If your business has lots of old, unused, or broken umbrellas it no longer needs then you must arrange commercial waste collection. Licensed waste carriers will remove them and transport them to a waste management facility for recycling and responsible disposal.

Call 0800 211 8390 or contact us online for a free quote to collect and dispose of your commercial umbrella waste.

There are many ways you can reuse an old or broken umbrella even if it won’t keep the rain or sunshine out any more. Upcycling umbrellas helps to reduce waste, keep them out of landfill, and save on the energy and resources required for recycling. Plus, it puts them to good use in other ways.

Here are a few easy ideas for upcycling by turning your old umbrella into a:

• Light shade – colourful umbrella canopies make wonderful light shades for your living room, hallway, or garage. Keep the ribs in place with the umbrella top open and position it over a bare lightbulb hanging from the ceiling for great effect.
• Chandelier – remove the canopy and turn the frame of your old umbrella upside down to form a DIY chandelier. Hang and attach decorative bits to the ribs to add a touch of class.
• Mini greenhouse – transparent plastic umbrella canopies and the ribs are ideal as a cover for precious plants in your garden, acting like a small greenhouse. Remove the shaft and handle and secure it in the ground so it won’t blow away to help plants thrive.
• Hanging basket – simply flip an old umbrella upside down and hang it outside for an easy hanging basket. You can also partially close the umbrella and hang it indoors or outside then fill it with a bouquet of flowers.
• Coat rack – traditional curved umbrella handles make a great coat rack. Remove them from the rest of the umbrella, turn them upside down, and nail them into a small board for a quick and easy coat rack.
• Clothesline – get rid of the canopy and use the metal shaft and ribs of an umbrella as a clothesline either inside or outside. Find something to hang it from, such as a tree or pole. It’s great for drying small items like socks and tea towels.
• Costume – dressing up as Mary Poppins? It doesn’t matter if the umbrella is in working order or not – you’re unlikely to fly away with it anyway. Get creative and use the canopy of an old black umbrella as the wings of a bat for a spooky Halloween costume or transform the fabric into a cape.

Rugby League legend Kevin Sinfield OBE will lace up his running trainers once again to take on another epic endurance event this December. Sinfield and his team will run an ultra marathon each day for seven days in seven cities to raise awareness and money to support people impacted by motor neurone disease (MND).

And for the second year in a row, Business Waste is proud to sponsor Sinfield with our name on the front of his jersey as he tackles his fourth fundraiser. So far he’s raised more than £8 million for the fight against MND across three endurance events. Each one has been inspired by his former Leeds Rhinos teammate Rob Burrow MBE.

This challenge is no different with the team also inspired by sporting warriors Ed Slater, Marcus Stewart, Stephen Darby, the late Doddie Weir, and the 5,000 other people living with MND in the UK today. The aim is to raise £777,777 for five charities that support and care for people affected by MND and their families and invest in research for effective treatments and a cure for the disease.

There are plenty of ways to reduce waste and your environmental impact if you’re planning a Bonfire Night party at home. Fireworks are the main focus of the evening, so ensuring these are as environmentally friendly as possible is vital. A greater awareness of the effect fireworks have on the environment means there are now eco-friendly options available.

Eco-friendly fireworks are made with a nitrogen-based fuel that burns cleaner and produces a lot less smoke. They’re designed to reduce atmospheric pollution caused by traditional fireworks that have charcoal and sulphur fuel. Currently, they’re not as easy to find but making the effort to source eco-friendly fireworks is worth it for a sustainable Bonfire Night.

Burning rubbish might sound like a great way to avoid any non-recyclable waste ending up in landfill, but you should avoid this. Building a bonfire with household waste, plastics, wet wood, and many other materials can pollute the air, create lots of smoke, and an unpleasant smell.

Burning many waste types is also illegal with a potential fine of up to £50,000. As well as environmental concerns there are also safety risks, so fires must be held in a secure place with plenty of water nearby. If you’re planning a bonfire then here’s how to have one in the most environmentally friendly way:

• Only burn dry, untreated, and unpainted scrap wood. Any wood that could be reused, repurposed, or recycled shouldn’t be burned, as this isn’t sustainable. This includes garden waste, which it’s better to compost rather than burn on a fire.
• Just use small amounts of paper or cardboard to help start the fire. Recycling paper and cardboard is the best way to dispose of these materials, so don’t burn loads on your bonfire.
• Check the weather forecast as it’s best to have bonfires on clear nights with no wind or mist to minimise their impact.
• Look into the bonfire before lighting it to ensure no hedgehogs or other animals are living inside. Building the bonfire on the day helps reduce this risk.
• Dispose of ash properly after your bonfire has burned out. Ensure it’s cooled down and then you can add pure wood ash to a compost heap.

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) revealed reforms to bin collections and the UK’s waste system at the end of October 2023. These proposals have been dubbed ‘Simpler Recycling.’ They aim to increase, improve, and standardise recycling and waste collections by local authorities across the country for households and businesses.

This should eradicate the current ‘postcode lottery’ where homes in some areas of the country can recycle materials like glass in their domestic recycling bins, while others can’t. The plans also aim to crack down on waste crime, through mandatory digital waste tracking, an issue costing England over £1 billion per year.

Businesses in England with 10 or more employees were required to separate dry recyclables into individual containers and arrange separate food waste collections by the end of March 2025.

For most other proposed changes there’s a deadline of the end of March 2026, so there’s still time to get to grips with them. Understand what Defra’s simpler recycling plans are and how they could affect your business or household with these answers to your common questions.

As of February 2026, the Environment Agency are charging £118 per hour to businesses who are non-compliant with Simpler Recycling Regulations. This measure is in place to fund EA assessments. It’s now more crucial than ever to ensure your business is fully compliant.

Note: The timeline for Simpler Recycling could change. Below is all the current information and expected dates about the plans available. You can find more information on the UK government website.

Businesses will need to arrange collections and recycling of all food waste, paper and cardboard, and dry recycling (glass, plastic, and metals) they produce by licensed waste carriers. All businesses, schools, hospitals, and other ‘non-household municipal premises in England’ must arrange collection for recycling or composting of the same recyclable waste streams as households under Defra’s new plans – excluding garden waste.

These arrangements were required to be in place by the end of March 2025 for businesses in England with 10 or more full-time employees. Using commercial waste collection services and licensed waste carriers should ensure compliance with the new plans. You could use separate bins for each recycling stream or dry mixed recycling bin collections to combine plastic and metals for ease. Paper and card must be collected separately from other dry recyclables.

The government plans to hold a consultation about the definition of ‘non-household municipal premises.’ Depending on the outcome of this it could mean places of worship, prisons, charity shops, and residential hostels are included and will also need to arrange recycling collections in line with the new plans.

A few key areas of the Separation of Waste (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2024 are also still under review by the government. These could affect how recyclable materials are collected and which can be mixed and the deadline for micro-businesses, which may be subject to change.

Household recycling rates in England have grown from 11% in 2001 to 42% in 2022. However, they’ve stagnated and missed the target of reaching an average of 50% by 2020. Ensuring all domestic waste collections include the seven core recycling streams should improve recycling rates towards the UK’s household waste recycling target of 65% by 2035.

Applying Defra’s simpler recycling scheme across all households and businesses will mean the same materials can be recycled at home or work anywhere in the UK. This removes the current ‘postcode lottery’ about what can be recycled where and avoids any confusion. It should encourage manufacturers to design sustainable packaging that’s recyclable anywhere in the UK, helping boost recycling rates.

Around 18% of waste in England might be managed illegally according to the Environment Agency. This can have a hugely negative impact on the environment and businesses and costs the economy in England £1 billion a year. Reforming the licensing system for waste carriers, brokers, and dealers with mandatory digital waste tracking aims to centralise reporting and reduce illegal waste activity and its negative impact.

Most of the reaction has been positive but a few concerns have been raised. An announcement was initially promised by the end of 2022. With nearly a year’s delay, it wouldn’t be a surprise if deadlines are pushed back again and could make implementation challenging due to this initial delay.

The mixing of materials was also highlighted as disappointing. However, updates to Simpler Recycling plans mean paper and card will now be collected separately to reduce cross-contamination and improve the quality of collected material. It’s hoped that simplifying the number of bins should increase recycling participation levels.

Have you experienced extra strain carrying your Halloween pumpkin to your car from the supermarket this year? The good news is that there’s nothing to be scared about and you’re not getting weaker – it’s the pumpkins that are getting bigger this year.

Farmers have commented that the wet July and August (with enough sunny intervals) has seen pumpkin crops thrive[1]. A warm September and early October helped ripen the fruits at the right time too[2]. With between 10 and 15 million pumpkins grown and harvested in the UK every year that means most pumpkins sold are bigger and heavier than usual.

You might get more pumpkin for your pound thanks to the miserable summer, but experts at Business Waste are worried it will lead to more pumpkins being wasted. Already around 24 million pumpkins are sold in the UK every year to celebrate Halloween with 18,000 tonnes of pumpkins thrown away that end up in landfill.

“More than half of Brits who buy pumpkins once a year just to make a jack-o’-lantern aren’t aware that they can eat and use the fruit,” says Mark Hall, representative for waste management company Business Waste. “Instead, they scoop out the insides and chuck it straight in the bin, meaning thousands of tonnes of edible pumpkins go to waste. It’s a real shame, especially with the millions of homes in the UK currently experiencing food insecurity.”

There are no exact figures about how much bigger pumpkins are compared to last year. However, as 18,000 tonnes of pumpkins are thrown out normally in a year, even a 1% increase in size could lead to significant amounts of extra waste:

• 1% increase in pumpkin size – 180 extra tons – the weight of 30 elephants
• 5% increase in pumpkin size – 900 extra tons – the weight of 150 elephants
• 10% increase in pumpkin size – 1,800 extra tons – the weight of 300 elephants

The average pumpkin that you buy in the supermarket has a diameter of 15 to 25cm and weighs between 2 and 3kg[3]. Medium pumpkins range in size from 60 to 80cm in diameter and can weigh as much as 9kg.

The bigger the pumpkin size you normally buy, the larger it will likely be this year, and the more food waste it will create if disposed of irresponsibly. Unless more consumers eat or use the pumpkin flesh then those buying bigger pumpkins for their porch could create more avoidable food waste in the UK.

“Unfortunately, more food often leads to more waste,” adds Hall. “We encourage people to only buy the number and sizes of pumpkins they need. You should also plan how you’re going to use all of the pumpkin and manage it properly, as after carving a pumpkin it only lasts for 3 days to a week before it starts to rot.”

Reducing waste production is a key challenge for every country to tackle pollution and climate change. Global waste generation was 2.24 billion tons in 2020, and is predicted to increase to 3.88 billion tons by 2050, according to the World Bank. Homes and businesses can play their part to cut waste production at the source, but advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) are helping across the board.

Waste management involves many processes, from production and storage to transportation, inspection, and disposal. AI is already essential for lots of data processing and behind the scenes work around waste management. It’s now being introduced for more applications that are much more visible and businesses can use to reduce waste, save time, and money.

There are many innovative ways AI benefits the waste management sector and how it can help your business reduce its waste production levels and the associated costs.

Around 17% of food produced globally is wasted according to the UN. The food service industry accounts for about 5% of this, so efforts are ongoing to reduce this amount. For example, the average restaurant in The Netherlands throws away around 10,000kg of edible food waste every year.

Trials using cameras and AI software developed by Orbisk are in place within some professional kitchens to cut down on the amount of waste food restaurants, cafes, and takeouts produce. This places cameras above food waste bins in the kitchen. They use AI image recognition technology to identify the type and amount of food waste, its level of processing (prepared, whole, or cutting waste), the time of disposal and reason for disposal.

Waste management companies work to determine the most efficient routes to collect garbage from homes and businesses. This saves them money on fuel, which has a positive environmental effect too, and cuts the time it takes so they can make more pickups in a day. AI offers solutions to accurately map the areas that a waste management company covers, which can use historical data and new information to develop the most efficient routes.

Research has found that using AI could reduce transportation distances by up to 36.8% for waste logistics. This could make time savings of up to 28.22%, which leads to better efficiencies and may cut costs for waste collections by up to 13.35%.

Holidays, seasonal events, and traffic regularly impact waste collections, leading to longer and slower routes. AI integration can automatically generate route plans for trucks while they’re out on the road, making changes in real time to avoid traffic jams, road closures, and avoid delays where possible.

It’s not just rubbish on planet earth that AI helps to combat, it’s now got its sights set on the stars (kind of). The European Space Agency estimates there are more than 170 million bits of debris in space larger than 1mm, which could harm an operational spacecraft. This includes natural meteoroid and human-made orbital debris, such as mission-related debris, spacecraft fragmentation, and nonfunctional spacecraft.

All this waste in space could be dangerous for astronauts navigating orbit, communication networks and weather satellites, and future missions. AI is now helping spearhead a space clean-up. The Department of Defense’s global Space Surveillance Network (SSN) uses sensors to track around 27,000 large bits of space junk, but development is ongoing to use recognition technology to identify smaller debris in space.

Start-ups are innovating to come up with solutions that go beyond just detecting waste in space too. StartRocket is working on a foam debris catcher. It delivers a small satellite into orbit that releases foam as it comes close to a cloud of debris in space, which absorbs the waste. Then it falls from orbit, destroying the debris as it burns up in the atmosphere.

Automating various processes of waste management with AI capabilities can reduce the amount of waste we create and ensure responsible disposal in many ways. Future developments and innovations could hopefully help make waste reduction even easier for homes and businesses to have a positive environmental impact.

What to do with old candles when they’ve burnt out for the last time is important. Candles may seem like a green way to illuminate your space and add a warming atmosphere, as they don’t rely on electricity. Yet at the end of their life, you’re left with a jar, part of a wick, and some small bits of wax.

How to dispose of a candle responsibly depends on what parts of the candle you’ve got left, the condition, what materials they’re made from, and if you’re getting rid of a candle from your home or business. With the right steps, you can reuse and recycle candles in various ways.

Find out how to dispose of candles in this guide with ideas about what to do with old candle jars, leftover wax, and the wick.

To dispose of candles in the UK at home you must first separate the parts of your old candle. Start by scooping out any remnants of candle wax that remain at the bottom of the jar or candle holder. This should be put to one side for reuse or thrown away in your household general waste bin.

Most wax in domestic candles is made of paraffin, vegetable or animal fats, or oils. Recycling candle wax and recovery of this material isn’t economically viable for many local councils and authorities, so general waste is the only option for disposal in most cases. However, you can reuse the candle wax in various ways (see below).

You can recycle glass candle jars with most other old glass bottles and jars. Empty out any leftover wax and wicks then take them to your local bottle bank or HWRC. Recycle glass candle jars in the mixed glass recycling bottle bank or the one for its specific colour.

To recycle glass candle jars from your business you put them in any glass bins you have and add them to your commercial glass waste collections. Again, you must remove any wax and wash out the jars before doing so. This removes contaminants and increases the chance of recycling.

Recycling glass candle jars is important as glass is fully recyclable. It can be endlessly recycled with no loss of quality and is used to create many new glass products. This saves on the energy and resources required to create fresh glass candle jars, resulting in a positive environmental impact.

Any businesses with old candles and jars to dispose of must arrange commercial waste collection. It’s a legal requirement that only licensed waste carriers remove commercial waste from your premises, which includes old candles from shops, hotels, restaurants, and any other business. Use a professional waste management company that ensures recycling of your candles.

An easy way to dispose of candles from your business is to remove any wax and wicks, and then recycle them with your current commercial glass waste collection. Just like recycling candle jars at home, you can dispose of them responsibly at work with other waste glass bottles and jars.

This ensures all the candle jars from your business are recycled and turned into new glass products. It also saves you money on landfill tax by reducing the amount of waste you send to landfill. Arrange commercial waste collections to get rid of old candles whether it’s leftover stock, broken candles, or used ones from tables in a restaurant.

Changes to the classification of ten waste wood items will come into play from 1 September 2023 in the UK. The new classification of these products as hazardous and potentially hazardous waste will affect both producers of waste wood (businesses) and recyclers. Understand the updated regulations to ensure the proper disposal of your wood waste.

The regulatory changes follow around five years of work and testing by the Wood Recyclers’ Association (WRA) to determine the hazardous waste content of various waste wood products. They mainly affect ‘amber’ waste wood items from the construction and demolition (C&D) sectors, though it could impact some other industries.

Learn all about these changes to wood waste regulations and what your business might need to do to ensure the safe, legal, and responsible disposal of your wood waste.

Ten items of waste wood from pre-2007 buildings now classify as hazardous:

• Barge boards
• External fascia
• Soffit boards
• External joinery
• External doors
• Roof timber
• Tiling cladding
• Tiling battens
• Timber frames
• Timber joists

If your organisation produces any of the ten types of waste wood items from pre-2007 buildings they’ll now be treated as hazardous waste. This means you can’t dispose of the likes of external doors or roof timber from pre-2007 buildings with the rest of your wood waste.

Instead, you’ll have to book a separate hazardous waste collection for any of these ten items or arrange suitable testing. You can organise testing of your waste wood items and if it’s proven to not contain any hazardous elements then you can recycle it with the rest of your wood as normal. Confirmation of the test and results must be sent to the wood recyclers.

Research by the WRA estimates that less than 1% of waste wood from C&D activities will contain hazardous content. This represents a small amount of UK waste wood production of around 4,000 tonnes in total. The amount of these potentially hazardous waste wood items is also predicted to fall over time due to newer buildings being constructed and continued testing.

The regulation changes mean most wood recyclers will update their acceptance criteria to exclude the ten types of hazardous wood waste. This is because most wood recyclers don’t have the facilities to dispose of hazardous waste. Upgrading to accept and dispose of hazardous waste properly would come at a great cost to most wood recyclers to deal with only a small amount of waste.

Wood recyclers will continue to accept most non-hazardous wood waste. They can also take and recycle any of the ten potentially hazardous wood waste items if they’ve been tested and certified as non-hazardous. Disposing of hazardous wood waste through proper channels reduces the risk of contamination and ensures safe, legal, and responsible disposal.

A materials recovery facility (MRF) is a specialised plant that receives, sorts, and processes dry mixed recycling materials. They accept domestic, commercial, and industrial waste and sort the waste into single recyclable material streams. Mechanical and manual processes ensure as many recyclable materials are recovered as possible to re-enter the manufacturing process.

MRFs range in size with 108 sites spread across the UK. Crayford MRF in Dartford is the largest one in the UK, which processes 330,000 tonnes of recyclable rubbish every year. MRFs are operated by local authorities, major private contractors, the community/third sector, and SMEs.

A clean materials recovery facility only takes materials that have already been separated from municipal solid waste. Less labour and time are needed at the clean MRF as the materials should already be sorted by type. The clean materials are processed and sorted by specifications at the MRF. However, clean MRFs have lower recovery rates as materials may be disposed of before they reach the MRF.

Processes and methods can vary between materials recovery facilities, but each one generally follows these processes:

• Waste collection and transportation – domestic and commercial waste are collected by licensed waste carriers and transported to a nearby MRF.
• Separation – the waste is mostly processed by machinery that separates it into different recyclable streams (such as plastics, paper, and glass). Some manual separation may be required before it’s screened by hand to ensure high levels of accuracy.
• Cleaning – all the materials are then cleaned in their individual streams to remove any contaminants, using a combination of machines and by hand. Cleaning methods vary for the recyclables:
  • Glass cleaning – the glass passes under a magnet to remove any metals and then an air classifier to remove any paper.
  • Metal cleaning – a magnet or eddy current separator is used to remove any non-ferrous metals.
  • Plastic cleaning – optical sorting machines or workers separate any plastic containers using the machine or by hand.
• Baling – cardboard, paper, plastic, and metals are all baled in their individual waste streams. Glass may be placed in separate containers.
• Distribution – the bales or containers of recyclable materials are sent out to recycling plants, manufacturers, and other places for recycling and reuse.

MRFs are important for waste management as they provide a cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution, especially for household waste. Having individual bins for each type of recyclable rubbish (glass, paper, cardboard, plastic, and metal) would be impractical. They’d take up lots of space and require more collections, which would use even more fuel.

This would lead to higher waste management costs and a negative environmental impact due to the additional transportation journeys. Instead, the importance of a material recovery facility for waste management helps keep costs down for domestic waste removal and recycling. Plus, it ensures efficient separation and high recovery rates.

There’s a great importance of MRFs for businesses too. They help companies improve their recycling rates by recovering dry mixed recycling to ensure your business has a positive environmental impact. Greater recycling means less commercial waste goes to landfill too, which can reduce how much landfill tax you pay for lower business waste management costs.

Book commercial waste collection anywhere in the UK with Business Waste and rest assured that your rubbish is disposed of responsibly. Our large national network means we work with many materials recovery facilities across the UK. Your dry mixed recycling may be taken to a nearby MRF for processing.

All waste we collect is diverted away from landfill to help protect the environment and save your company money. We can provide free bins to store your dry mixed recycling and other individual waste streams – you only pay for collection. Daily, weekly, and fortnightly collections are available.

RDF is refuse-derived fuel. This is the actual fuel produced after processing the relevant waste types. Non-recyclable non-hazardous, residential, industrial, commercial, construction and demolition waste are shredded, treated, and compressed to form RDF. It has a high calorific value, stable combustion, low secondary pollution, and low dioxin emissions.

All waste we collect at Business Waste is diverted away from landfill where possible to help protect the environment and save your company money. We use a wide range of commercial waste disposal methods, depending on the type of waste you need to get rid of. This includes turning waste into energy with RDF and SRF.

Whatever type and amount of waste you’ve got for disposal we provide free bins anywhere in the UK – you just pay for collection. Daily, weekly, and fortnightly collections are available on a schedule to suit your needs. We offer a free no obligation quote based on the type and size of bins, the collection frequency, and your location.

One of the main ways to turn food waste into energy is through anaerobic digestion. This is a process where the waste food is placed in an anaerobic digester that removes oxygen to speed up the breakdown of organic matter. It produces biofertilizer, but also biogas – that’s used to generate renewable energy.

Another method to get energy from food waste is via biomass gasification. Semi-dry food waste is placed in a biomass gasification unit where it undergoes fluidisation – the waste passes through a hot and bubbling substance to convert it to fuel gas. This converts the food waste into an energy-rich synthesis gas called syngas (a combination of hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide), which is used to generate heat and power.

Turning food waste into energy is important as it provides a sustainable disposal method. Unlike paper, glass, and cardboard, you can’t recycle waste food and turn it back into new food (unless you plant the seeds from fruit and vegetables). Changing food waste to energy benefits the environment as it:

• Reduces our reliance on fossil fuels, which add to air pollution, harm human health, and generate toxic emissions contributing to climate change.
• Diverts waste food away from landfill, where it would otherwise break down slowly and release methane – a highly potent greenhouse gas.
• Creates cleaner renewable energy that can be used to generate heat and electricity with fewer negative environmental effects.
• Offers a cost-effective solution, as it might reduce fuel costs in the long run. There are around 1.3 billion tonnes of waste food produced annually that could be converted into energy.
• Makes jobs as the energy from waste food industry is relatively new and starting to grow, which means more processing plants will need building and more people will be required to work in them.
• Saves money for businesses by reducing how much landfill tax you pay for waste food disposal.

The easiest way to turn food waste into energy is to ensure any waste food your organisation produces goes to a processing facility. Arrange collection by a professional waste management company that uses licensed waste carriers and takes your leftover food to a facility that converts it into energy.

Effective waste management is essential to turn any waste food you produce into energy. This involves storing food waste separately from other rubbish in appropriate bins and containers to avoid contaminating it before it’s collected. At Business Waste we can provide free food waste bins – you only pay for collection.

Get a free quote for commercial food waste collection and disposal anywhere in the UK with Business Waste. We can provide a range of free bins to store your waste food safely with the ability to book removals on a daily, weekly, or fortnightly basis to suit your schedule.

Licensed waste carriers will remove your waste food bins and transport them to a nearby facility for responsible disposal. We divert all waste food away from landfill and take it to local anaerobic digestion, food waste to energy, or industrial composting facilities. Composting is a responsible disposal method for waste food, although it won’t generate energy.

The main benefit of energy recovery from waste is that it avoids rubbish ending up in landfill. There are many reasons why landfill is bad, as any waste added to landfill sites can take hundreds and thousands of years to break down, contributing to increasing methane emissions. Further benefits of energy recovery from waste include:

• Generating energy from waste reduces CO2 emissions. Carbon saved from energy recovery compared to landfill is 0.05 tonnes of CO2e per tonne of residual waste.
• Over one year, energy recovery from waste could save 37,500 tonnes of CO2e. That’s similar to the emissions created by 4,700 homes or 8,000 non-electric cars.
• Creating electricity and heat from waste also reduces the reliance on fossil fuels by providing an alternative energy source, which further cuts carbon emissions.
• Energy from waste is better than regular incineration for any waste sent for to be burned as a disposal method. The same amount of waste is burned but it creates usable energy in the process.
• Valuable resources can also be recovered after the incineration, such as metals. These can be removed from the ashes and sent for cleaning and recycling, which wouldn’t happen if they ended up in landfill.

The method to generate energy from waste may depend on the specific energy from waste plant in the UK where your rubbish ends up. The type of waste and kind of energy it creates also impacts the process. However, the general way that energy is generated from waste follows these steps:

• Waste collection – commercial waste is removed from businesses and taken to a waste management centre for sorting. Anything that’s not recyclable or reusable is checked, and relevant waste is sent to an energy from waste plant.
• Mixing – the waste is mixed to help ensure an even burn during incineration. Large cranes then lift the waste and drop it into a combustion chamber.
• Incineration – the combustion chamber reaches temperatures of up to 1,000°C as the waste is burned.

Mandatory food waste reporting will not be introduced for large businesses in England after a consultation by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra). This is despite 80% of almost 4,000 respondents being in favour of new food waste legislation in the UK for waste food reporting by large and medium-sized businesses.

Currently, food waste reporting is voluntary, which is set to continue for the next few years. More than 200 businesses voluntarily reported their waste food figures in 2022 and year-on-year data shows such organisations managed to reduce their food waste. However, there are concerns about costs and inflation, which led to mandatory reporting being ruled out.

Learn all about food waste reporting, what the consultation found, the advantages and disadvantages, and what the future holds for food waste reporting.

The UK creates 9.5 million tonnes of food waste annually, with most of it produced by households. This has a total cost of around £19 billion and associated emissions of 36 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. Of this amount, businesses create more than 2.9 million tonnes of food waste every year.

The UK government has a 25-Year Environment Plan that aims to improve the environment. Food waste plays a part in this and the Resources and Waste Strategy (RWS) for England outlines the government’s approach to food waste in the country. It includes a pledge to consult on annual reporting of food surplus and waste by food businesses.

The consultation ran from 13 June 2022 to 5 September 2022, with the summary of responses and government response published on 28 July 2023. These are some of the key results and data from the consultation about mandatory food waste reporting:

• There were 3,851 respondents to the consultation.
• 39% of respondents qualified as large-sized businesses
• 80% of respondents were in favour of Option 2, requiring food waste measurement and reporting for large food businesses. Individuals, respondents from charities and social enterprises, and hospitality and retail sectors, all primarily shared this view.
• 64% of respondents didn’t agree that medium-sized businesses (MSBs) should be outside the scope of any regulations. However, only 4% of respondents responding to this question qualified as MSBs.
• Around half of all large food businesses in England measured and reported their food waste figures voluntarily in 2022.

The main advantage of mandatory food waste reporting is that it should help businesses reduce the amount of waste food they produce. As the progress report by WRAP shows, of the 140 businesses that provided voluntary food waste reporting in 2021 they achieved an average of 17% reduction in food waste.

Another key advantage of mandatory food waste reporting is the amount of money it can also save businesses. The same WRAP report found organisations that reported their food waste managed to save a total of £365 million. And cutting food waste also helps reduce carbon emissions related to its transportation and disposal.

There’s a decent uptake of voluntary food waste reporting by businesses. Making it mandatory with new food waste legislation in the UK would ensure all relevant companies take action. This could help the country work towards its target to cut food waste by 50% by 2030 and positively impact the environment.

One of the main issues with mandatory food waste reporting and reasons why the government hasn’t yet implemented it is the costs involved. It’s estimated that the total average annual reporting costs to business would be around £5.3 million. That’s significantly more than the £0.3 million to enhance current voluntary food waste reporting agreements.

The total cost across the 12-year appraisal period is estimated to be £63.8m to require food waste measurement and reporting for large food businesses. That’s compared to £11.7m for enhancing voluntary reporting. Reporting for large food businesses works out at up to £32,362 per year for a business new to food waste reporting.

One body that opposed mandatory reporting due to such cost issues was the National Farmers Union. The voluntary approach to food waste reporting has also proved fairly successful, so continuing to encourage this without the costs and time involved to bring in new legislation is the government’s preferred route.

At Business Waste, we encourage all organisations to reduce their food waste as much as possible. Our experts can advise where necessary and help you create an effective waste management plan. We also arrange collections of commercial food waste and ensure responsible disposal. It’s sent for composting or anaerobic digestion, never to landfill.

We provide a wide range of free bins to store food waste your business produces with no rental or delivery fees – you only pay for collection. Book food waste collection on a daily, weekly, or fortnightly schedule to suit your schedule. Collections are available anywhere in the UK.

All wheelie bin sizes are based on litres. This gives an idea of their capacity for waste storage, but the height, width, and depth of wheelie bins also vary. Wheelie bin weights are also different based on their size and material, with most wheelie bins made of polyethylene – a type of plastic.

To give a realistic idea of the capacity of each wheelie bin we provide an estimate of the maximum number of full waste bags you can fit into them. These are based on standard 65 litre bin bags. If you use larger or smaller bin bags then how many you can fit in may be different.

A 120 litre wheelie bin is the smallest size of wheelie bin available. 120 litre wheelie bin dimensions are 0.9m (height) x 0.5m (width) x 0.5m (depth). They have a capacity to hold up to 120 litres, which works out at a maximum of two to three full waste bags.

A 360 litre wheelie bin is the biggest two-wheel bin available for use at your business or home. 360 litre wheelie bin dimensions are 1.1m (height) x 0.6m (width) x 0.9m (depth). Their capacity is a maximum of 360 litres, and they can hold up to six full waste bags.

A 1100 litre wheelie bin is the largest available wheelie bin that has four wheels. 1100 litre wheelie bin dimensions are 1.4m (height) x 1.0m (width) x 1.3m (depth). They have a large capacity of 1100 litres, which means they’re capable of holding up to 18 full waste bags.

Wheelie bin weight limits depend on the size and capacity of a wheelie bin, as well as the waste type. All wheelie bins have a general maximum weight limit but there are ones in place for specific kinds of waste. Compliance with these is vital to avoid any overweight charges.

Overflowing bins can be too heavy to remove, which may lead to a missed waste collection. Understanding wheelie bin weight limits and having an efficient waste management plan helps avoid such issues. Use this wheelie bin weight limit chart to see the maximum allowances for common waste types depending on different sizes of wheelie bins.

At Business Waste we provide free wheelie bins of any size to companies across the UK. There are no rental or delivery fees or any hidden charges – you only pay the collection costs for each wheelie bin. These vary depending on the number and sizes of wheelie bins, waste types, collection frequency, and your location.

Wheelie bin collections are available on a daily, weekly, or fortnightly basis to suit the amount of waste you produce. Combine the best wheelie bin sizes for each type of waste you create with a collection schedule that offers cost-effective waste management. Use different sizes and numbers of bins suited to your needs.

The bill for litter cleaning up and down the UK currently costs local authorities around £586 million a year, which of course is money raised straight from the tax payer.

Business Waste don’t think this is fair on local councils and tax payers to have to pay when they aren’t the ones profiting from the sale of these goods, especially as consumers are often stuck for choice when it comes to making a sustainable choice when buying fast-food.

Hall: “Consumers have no choice as to what packaging their favourite products come in, so if the big brands don’t want to be eco-friendly then they should have to reach into their pockets to pay for the inevitable amount of waste their items produce.

“This could be the incentive they need to become more environmentally friendly.”

• Can you recycle x-ray film?
• Why is X-ray recycling important?
• How to dispose of X-rays as a business
• X-ray recycling and destruction methods

Recycling X-ray film is possible. X-ray films are made from a clear plastic film, usually polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is recyclable. This is coated with a radiation-sensitive emulsion that normally contains silver halide crystals (95% silver bromide and 5% silver iodide) and gelatine. It’s this silver substance that captures an image when an X-ray is taken.

To recycle x-ray films the silver and plastic materials are separated using chemical solutions and processes. They’re then recycled and turned into new plastic products and silver bars, which can be valuable. Recycling X-ray film is only possible at specialist facilities with the appropriate machinery and processes in place.

Organisations must arrange commercial waste collection of any old X-rays and ensure licensed waste carriers take them to a relevant recycling centre. You can’t put old X-ray films at home in your domestic recycling bin – or your household general waste bin. Check with your local hospital or healthcare centre or use a professional waste management company.

X-ray recycling is important because it’s a safe way to dispose of any old X-rays and the materials they’re made from are easily recyclable and valuable. Most X-rays are made from PET plastic film, which is one of the most recyclable types of plastic. Recycling plastic is important to avoid it ending up in landfill.

Recycling and reusing the silver in X-rays is also essential. There’s only a finite amount of silver in the world, so reusing it should be done where possible. Mining silver is incredibly energy-intensive and has negative environmental effects, so recycling helps reduce these impacts and saves energy.

Businesses must arrange commercial waste collection of any obsolete X-ray films of patients, clients, or employees. Your organisation may have piles of X-rays in storage, which you can only keep for as long as necessary under GDPR principles. When it’s time to get rid of them, responsible disposal of X-ray films is vital.

Arranging x-ray destruction and recycling by professional third-party waste management experts is the best solution. Many shred the X-rays first to destroy the sensitive data before recycling the X-rays. This includes a wide range of X-ray types, such as:

• Analogue medical film
• Dry-view medical film
• Industrial film
• NDT (from non-destructive testing of engineered parts)

Professional commercial waste management firms, such as Business Waste, will organise the collection of your old X-rays at a convenient time. Licensed waste carriers then transport them to an appropriate waste management facility. Here the X-rays will normally be checked, shredded, and recycled. Your business should receive a duty of care certificate confirming its disposal.

To dispose of any X-rays, you’ve got lying around at home you should first check with your doctor how long you should keep them. There may be medical or legal reasons why you have to hang onto them for a specific amount of time. If that period has passed then there are a few disposal options.

Check whether your local hospital, radiology clinic, or healthcare centre will take your old X-rays for disposal and recycling. Most should accept them but may need proof of identity. You can rest assured that your X-rays will be disposed of properly and safely, as they’ll follow all medical privacy regulations.

You can also see if your local council has an x-ray recycling programme or accepts them at your nearby household waste recycling centre (HWRC). Otherwise, professional waste management firms like Business Waste might take your old X-rays for disposal. Check if there are any minimum amounts though.

Donating your old X-rays to local schools, universities, or medical facilities is another option. They can be used as educational resources and are greatly appreciated by some organisations. Cut or block out any sensitive details such as your name to avoid identification before donating your old X-rays.

Book collection of X-ray waste from your organisation today, whether you’ve got old X-ray films, equipment, or chemicals for disposal. At Business Waste we can provide free bins and containers to store your x-ray waste – you only pay for collection. Removals are available anywhere in the UK.

Licensed waste carriers will collect your waste and transport it to an appropriate waste management facility for recycling and disposal. You receive a free duty of care certificate and certificate of destruction if relevant, confirming the legal disposal of any X-ray waste. One-off, daily, weekly, and fortnightly collections are available.

• What is a blister pack?
• How to recycle tablet blister packs from your business
• Where can I recycle blister packs in the UK?
• How are blister packs recycled?

A blister pack is the packaging used to store tablets, pills, and other medication for sale or prescription. It’s a type of pre-formed packaging material that has a thermoformed plastic cavity and a pliable lid. They’re called blister packs as the product (tablet or pill) sits in a deep-drawn cavity or pocket that looks like a blister.

Blister packs are normally made of one type of plastic to hold the tablets, which are covered by a thin layer of foil. Normally the base of the packaging is made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic with an aluminium foil top. These are heat-sealed together.

The combination of materials used to make blister packs and the heat-sealing means separating them to recycle blister packs is difficult and expensive. For this reason, many councils don’t recycle pill packets as it’s too costly. There are other places and solutions for blister pack recycling for households and businesses though.

You can recycle blister packs in the UK that are personal or household waste in many Superdrug pharmacies. Waste blister packs from businesses, organisations, or healthcare facilities are not accepted as they’re a type of commercial waste. You can only recycle empty blister packs and not the cardboard packaging or paper inserts.

The blister pack recycling scheme is only available in Superdrug pharmacy stores, not those without a pharmacy. Simply visit your local Superdrug pharmacy and dispose of your empty blister packets in the dedicated collection boxes. They’re collected and the packs are recycled and turned into boards for the construction industry.

The medicine packet recycling scheme runs in partnership with TerraCycle, which is responsible for recycling blister packs collected in Superdrug pharmacies. Superdrug has also teamed up with many household brands to help make the scheme a success, including Benadryl, Buscopan, Calpol, Nurofen, Imodium, Nicorette, Optrex, BuscoMint, Dulcolax, Sudafed, and Allevia.

Most councils and local authorities don’t accept empty blister packs in household recycling bins. This means most are disposed of with domestic general waste and may end up in landfill or be sent for incineration. To protect the environment, you can recycle blister packs at home by taking them to your local Superdrug pharmacy.

Some GP surgeries and healthcare centres are also trialling blister pack recycling schemes, so check with your local facility. If you’ve got any unopened, unused, and expired medication in blister packs then return them to your local pharmacy for disposal. They should accept them even if you purchased the from a different pharmacy.

You can recycle the cardboard box and paper inserts from any blister packs at home in your domestic recycling bin. If your recycling bin is full or you’ve got lots for disposal, you should be able to recycle medicine blister packs at your nearest household waste recycling centre (HWRC) too.

Recycle medicine blister packs anywhere in the UK with Business Waste. We can provide free bins and bags to store cytotoxic and cytostatic waste including empty blister packets – you only pay for collection. Book removals on a daily, weekly, fortnightly, or ad hoc schedule to suit your needs.

Cardboard, paper, and dry mixed recycling bins can also be delivered and collected to recycle the rest of any blister packs. And we offer pharmaceutical waste collection services to help you dispose of any full packets of tablets, pills, and other medication responsibly.

Could chants of “we recycle more than you!”, “you’re unsustainable, and you know you are!”, and “who’s the ****** not recycling!” be bellowed from the terraces this season? If so, don’t expect to hear many in a Scouse or Brummie accent. That’s according to a revised Premier League table based on recycling rates in the areas of each stadium.

At Business Waste we used the latest data for household waste recycling rates across England to predict how this season’s Premier League could pan out. Rather than focusing on wins, draws, and losses, the rankings use the recycling rates of the local authority that covers every stadium’s location.

Data covering recycling rates for individual constituencies isn’t available, which means Everton and Liverpool are tied, as are Chelsea and Fulham. These teams are placed in alphabetical order (and given their positions, there aren’t any worries about bragging rights). To make things fair all data is from 2021/22, as government data for 2022/23 is yet to be released.

The table shows there’s still plenty of work for most areas in England to reach the government’s target of recycling 50% of all household waste. While Premier League clubs can’t have a direct impact, they can all play their part to encourage increased recycling and sustainability for their clubs and fans.

Many teams are working towards a greener future. The Premier League Sustainability Rankings considers what clubs themselves are doing to improve their climate credentials. Last season Spurs and Liverpool came out on top, showing that while their local authorities may be falling behind they take sustainability more seriously. And unlike the recycling rate table, Bournemouth find themselves down at the bottom of the sustainability rankings.

Hall adds: “Given the huge amount of money floating around in football it’s about time more teams invested in sustainable waste solutions inside and outside their stadiums. Running a football club that’s as green as its pristine pitch should be the goal for every top-tier team in England.”

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is a new UK regulation that aims to increase the responsibility of businesses that supply or import packaging. It’s a reform to the current Packaging Waste Regulations that will change the management and funding of packaging waste. The costs of managing packaging once it becomes waste will shift to the producers rather than the consumers.

Any organisation in the UK that produces, supplies, or imports packaging will need to report packaging data and ensure EPR compliance when it comes into effect. In July 2023 it was announced that the full introduction of the UK EPR scheme will be pushed back by a year. Businesses should still start preparing for the scheme though.

Getting to grips with extended producer responsibility can seem complex before it’s enforced. Understand what EPR is and whether your business will be affected and need to make any changes with our detailed guide.

The UK produces more than 10 million tonnes of packaging waste every year. Around two-thirds of this are recyclable or reusable, yet vast amounts make their way to landfill sites across the country. By placing the responsibility and costs for packaging disposal on the producers, EPR aims to encourage businesses to develop more sustainable and recyclable packaging.

An increase in costs for packaging producers should kickstart an improvement in creating and using formats and materials that are recyclable. This should have a positive effect on the environment and reduce the associated costs for businesses, as recycling is more cost-effective than sending waste to landfill and other disposal methods.

The EPR scheme applies to any organisation in the UK that supplies or imports packaging. Normally EPR applies to a brand owner or importer. This includes any business that:

• Supplies packaged goods to the UK market under your own brand
• Puts items into packaging that’s unbranded when it’s supplied
• Imports products in packaging
• Owns an online marketplace
• Hires or loans out reusable packaging
• Provides empty packaging

If your business does any of the above then it will need to collect and report its packaging data. EPR regulations apply to any UK organisation that:

• Is an individual business, subsidiary, or group (but not a charity)
• Has an annual turnover of £1 million or more (based on your most recent annual accounts)
• Was responsible for more than 25 tonnes of packaging in 2022
• Carries out any of the packaging activities

For example, imagine you run a food company with branded packaging for your goods. You supply supermarkets and other food retailers with your products that are sold to consumers in the UK. Here the food company must comply with EPR regulations. But if the food items were sold under the supermarket’s branded packaging then the supermarket would be responsible.

The Packaging Waste (Data Reporting) (England) Regulations 2023 came into effect on 28 February 2023. This means producers of packaging should already be collecting and reporting data about the amount and type of packaging they place on the market in England. Large organisations should have registered for the EPR packaging online service by April 2023, while for smaller companies it opens in 2024.

Large organisations in the UK must submit packaging data between 1 January 2024 and 1 April 2024 (this is to cover the period of 1 July 2023 to 31 December 2023). Small organisations should work to the same dates but for data from 1 March 2023 to 31 December 2023.

The introduction of EPR legislation is phased though. In July 2023 the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) announced a delay for payments for extended producer responsibility (EPR) for packaging by a year, pushing it back to October 2025. Defra claims the delay is to help efforts to drive down inflation

From October 2025 onwards producers will pay fees based on the recyclability/sustainability of their packaging. The exact charges will depend on how widely recycled the material is and other factors. More detailed data on packaging materials will be necessary at this point compared to what’s reported in the current system.

One advantage of the delay to extended producer responsibility regulations is that businesses have an extra year to prepare for them. Understanding whether EPR legislation will affect your organisation and what you need to do is vital to comply with these new regulations. Important ways to prepare for EPR as a business include to:

• Check whether EPR applies to your organisation or not – your suppliers may hold responsibility.
• Identify any areas of your business where EPR applies and understand its impact.
• Model the regulatory costs and factor upcoming EPR charges into your budget to financially prepare for such change.
• Plan how you’ll gather, collect, and store all data about your packaging and waste. Check your data is accurate and provides complete coverage.
• Consider alternative packaging options to ensure full recyclability and other ways to use sustainable packaging that’s environmentally friendly and financially beneficial for your business.

• Increases the recyclability of packaging
• Reduces the amount of packaging waste in landfill
• Encourages more sustainable packaging designs
• Businesses are likelier to seek out alternative eco-friendly packaging solutions
• Packaging producers cover the costs of waste disposal

Dealing with an overflowing rubbish bin isn’t a pleasant experience. In most cases, you’ll have to get your hands dirty and remove any waste bags or items that won’t fit in the bin. This is because most local authorities and waste management companies won’t empty or remove your bin if it’s overfull.

Any bags of waste left next to or on top of a wheelie bin are unlikely to be removed. Some waste removal firms, or local councils, may also refuse to empty or take away an overflowing bin as they’ll have to pay overweight charges at the waste management site. These may then be passed down to you, depending on the situation.

Any overflowing rubbish bin is also unhygienic, creating a breeding ground for bacteria, disease, and maggots. Excess rubbish spilling out of the bin can attract bigger pests such as rats into the vicinity of your home or business. It can be off-putting for customers and clients visiting your premises, giving off a poor impression, and negatively affecting your neighbours.

When you’ve got a wheelie bin overflowing in your backyard, on the drive, or the curb outside your house it can quickly entice pests. Soon a bad smell may also develop that makes walking in and out of your home highly unpleasant. And if you’ve got nosy neighbours it won’t be long before they kick up a fuss.

Most local councils or authorities won’t collect any excess waste left on or next to your household bins. Some may refuse to empty overflowing domestic bins, which can make the problem worse. If you’ve got too much rubbish for a wheelie bin at home – whether your general waste, recycling, or garden waste bin – there are a few things you can do:

An overflowing wheelie bin isn’t a good look for your business, even if it’s an overflowing recycling bin. It can signal to clients, customers, and visitors that your organisation isn’t in control of its waste, which gives off a poor impression. Plus, waste bags and rubbish that won’t fit in your bins can attract pests.

Knowing what to do with excess rubbish is important to help your business get its waste management back on track and to avoid any potential overweight charges for your bin collections. If your business has one or more overflowing bins then there are a few options to tackle this excess waste responsibly:

• Book an emergency bin collection – if your next waste collections aren’t for a few days, a week, or longer, then a fast solution is to arrange a one-off bin removal. At Business Waste we can work on a quick turnaround to book a collection slot for a wide range of waste types anywhere in the UK to stop your bins from overflowing.
• Add extra bins to your service – when your organisation regularly finds its bins overflowing it could be a sign that you’re producing more waste than previously thought. Adding one or more extra bins to your collection service of the waste type you’re creating more of can eliminate bins from overflowing in the future.

There are many solutions to deal with an overflowing rubbish bin efficiently, but it’s more cost-effective and easier to prevent the situation in the first place. Good planning and waste control measures can ensure your bins never overflow again. These are a few ways to avoid overflowing bins at your home or business:

• Separate your waste – sort your domestic and commercial waste into different streams to ensure as much as possible is recycled. This also avoids too much rubbish ending up in general waste bins or dry mixed recycling bins being overfull if you use separate paper, cardboard, and plastic bins.
• Compress packaging waste – flatten as much waste as you can, such as cardboard boxes, juice cartons, and drinks cans to save space and prevent an overflowing recycling bin.

Eliminate the risk of overflowing wheelie bins with Business Waste. We provide free bins to organisations anywhere in the UK with no delivery or wheelie bin hire fees – you only pay for collection. A wide range of bins are available in various sizes to store all sorts of rubbish before disposal and recycling.

Arrange bin collection on a schedule to suit your needs and avoid your bins overflowing, with daily, weekly, and fortnightly removals available. Our experts can also conduct a waste audit and help develop an effective waste management plan to ensure all your commercial waste is controlled effectively.

POPs is an acronym for persistent organic pollutants. These are chemical substances that don’t break down and can be harmful to humans and the environment. They also spread easily via air, water, and wildlife. The main types of POPs waste include upholstered domestic seating (armchairs, sofas, and office chairs) and electrical devices and components.

The Environment Agency introduced new regulations on 1 January 2023 covering the storage and disposal of POPs waste. Homes and businesses must ensure any waste they have that contains any persistent organic pollutants is managed, removed, and disposed of safely and in line with this legislation. POPs waste cannot be disposed of in landfill sites.

Learn all you need to know about what POPs waste is, common examples of POPs waste, and how to dispose of it properly.

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are toxic chemical substances that are harmful to human health and the environment. They don’t break down and remain in the environment for a long time, negatively affecting any wildlife and humans they encounter. POPs can transfer by air, and water, and pass from one species to another through the food chain.

This means the impact of POPs can spread far from where they’re produced, used, and released into the environment. Some of the most common examples of persistent organic pollutants are synthetic chemicals used for pest and disease control, crop production, and industrial purposes. These can be produced intentionally or unintentionally (such as byproducts of combustion and industrial processes).

POPs waste doesn’t just affect industries and organisations that produce chemical waste. Various items of furniture and old electrical and electronic devices and products could contain persistent organic pollutants found in homes and businesses. These must be identified, managed, and disposed of responsibly.

Some of the most common examples of POPs waste found in homes and businesses include upholstered domestic seating. POPs may be present in any parts that contain or are made of leather, synthetic leather, fabric, or foam. Often they’re in the back of the covers and in the foam, which may contaminate any lining and wadding in contact with it.

Common examples of upholstered seating that may contain POPs are:

• Sofas, sofa beds, and futons
• Armchairs
• Kitchen and dining room chairs
• Stools and footstools
• Home office chairs
• Bean bags, floor and sofa cushions

The Persistent Organic Pollutants Regulations 2007 requires the destruction of POPs in any waste to protect the environment and impacts on the food chain. It means any waste containing POPs must be incinerated and never reused, recycled, or landfilled. The regulation also makes production and placing on the market any POPs an offence.

The waste management of POPs is covered by this regulation. Any producer or holder of POPs waste who fails to dispose of or recover it in compliance with these regulations commits an offence. Anyone breaching these regulations could face potential penalties of a fine or imprisonment.

In the UK, the Environment Agency brought new legislation into effect from 1 January 2023 for the storage and disposal of POPs waste. These new compliance procedures mean local authorities are now legally required to change their processes for dealing with potential POPs waste. Essentially, any upholstered domestic seating waste must be incinerated.

For any POPs waste you’ve got at home you should check if your local household waste recycling centre (HWRC) accepts upholstered domestic seating. Most HWRCs do, just ensure you keep it separate from other waste and dispose of your POPs waste in the correct container at the site. Your local authority can advise on the process.

Businesses must arrange commercial waste collection by licensed waste carriers for any waste containing POPs. At Business Waste we can provide a free no obligation quote to remove and dispose of any kind and amount of POPs waste from companies anywhere in the UK. One-off collections and disposal of domestic POPs waste is also available.

Hiring wheelie bins often seems like a more affordable and sensible option compared to buying them. This may especially be the case if you only need some extra wheelie bins for a busy period. If you hire a couple of wheelie bins it may soon get your waste management back on track.

Businesses that find their bins constantly overflowing or overweight, leading to overweight charges, might also consider hiring wheelie bins as a longer-term solution. Some households may turn to wheelie bin rental if they experience reduced bin collections by their local authority to ensure they have enough capacity to store waste safely.

Often wheelie bin hire provides a flexible and cost-effective option for homes and businesses that only need a few extra bins for a set period. Collections can normally be tailored to your needs, and it can improve your recycling by diversifying the types of bins you have available.

Small wheelie bin hire options cover three types of two-wheel bins. This includes those that are the same size as your household wheelie bins provided by your local authority, as well as ones slightly smaller and larger. They’re easy to move and require limited storage space. Discover the main options for small wheelie bin hire:

• 120 litre wheelie bin hire – these are slightly smaller than regular domestic wheelie bins and can hold two or three bags of waste. Dimensions – 0.9m x 0.5m x 0.5m.
• 240 litre wheelie bin hire – the same size as most household wheelie bins with room for three or four full waste bags. Dimensions – 1.1m x 0.6m x 0.7m.
• 360 litre wheelie bin hire – a little larger than the standard wheelie bin you have at home with space for five or six bags of waste. Dimensions – 1.1m x 0.6m x 0.9m.

The costs for commercial wheelie bin hire depend on the size and number of bins you need, how often you want them collected, your location, and where you rent the bins. For example, hiring a few small wheelie bins that are only emptied once a week will often be cheaper than renting large wheelie bins with daily collections.

Other costs that can affect wheelie bin hire prices include if there are any delivery fees or admin charges applied. Some organisations will require a fixed-term contract, while others are more flexible. Prices vary between companies that offer wheelie bin hire, so it’s worth comparing the options available in your area.

At Business Waste, for example, we provide free wheelie bins with no delivery or hire charges for organisations anywhere in the UK – you only pay for the collection. This is more cost-effective than hiring or buying wheelie bins for your business.

Arrange commercial wheelie bin hire with Business Waste with no rental or delivery fees. We offer a wide range of wheelie bins to businesses across the UK in various sizes and you only pay for collection – there are zero hire or hidden fees. Enjoy affordable and effective waste management.

120 to 1100 litre wheelie bins are available to use to store your general waste and recycling. Book collections on a daily, weekly, or fortnightly schedule and tailor them to your needs for a cost-effective solution. We can provide a free no obligation quote for the wheelie bins and collection service you need.

If a wheelie bin falls over in a storm or tornado there’s a chance that all the waste it contains could blow away, littering the local environment. Your household or business is responsible for any wheelie bins you use so should take steps to avoid this happening. It ensures all your waste will be disposed of and recycled responsibly.

There are many things you can do to secure your wheelie bins to stop them from blowing over in a storm:

• Lock your wheelie bin – one of the best ways to secure a wheelie bin in general is with a dedicated wheelie bin lock. Many are specifically manufactured to lock wheelie bins to walls or posts. There are also wheelie bin lock straps that secure the lid and keep it closed, which prevents theft and stops rubbish from blowing out if your bin falls over in a storm.
• Hook up your bins – install a hook on a nearby wall or post and tie some bungee cord around your bin or its handles and attach it for a DIY alternative to locking your wheelie bins. There are also brackets available that act similarly. Simply screw the bracket into a fence and clip in the wheelie bin handles to secure it.
• Use a dedicated storage area – businesses should consider a dedicated wheelie bin storage area. Ideally, this will be undercover in a shed, indoors, in a garage, or in a dedicated wheelie bin storage unit. Even a fenced-off or walled area with no roof will provide more shelter from the elements than standing your wheelie bins out in the open though.
• Keep them close together – positioning wheelie bins near each other provides extra security rather than having them stand out on the street corner alone. Place them next to your neighbours’ bins if possible. Tying them together also reduces the chance of wheelie bins blowing over but it adds an extra obstacle when they’re being emptied, so avoid this.
• Place bricks near the wheels – it can be tempting to put rocks or bricks in your wheelie bin or on the lid to add extra weight. However, this presents a safety risk if it falls off and injures someone and the bricks may be accidentally thrown away with your waste. Instead, place a couple of bricks or rocks around the wheels and base of the wheelie bin for extra security, as these can be removed easily.

Homes and businesses must move their wheelie bins to the agreed pickup point ahead of the collection time. This is often at the curbside for households, on your premises or outside the main gate for businesses. Wind and rain can make moving two and four-wheel bins a lot more challenging.

Normally it’s best to put your wheelie bins out well in advance to ensure they’re emptied and collected. However, in a storm try to take them out as close to the pickup time as possible to minimise the risk of it blowing over. You could place a few bricks near the wheels for extra security.

Rotting food and waste is a beacon for flies. If just one fly gets into your bin, feasts on the waste, and lays its eggs, this can introduce many maggots into the bin once the eggs hatch. The average female fly lays around 1,000 eggs in its lifetime, so you can soon have an infestation in your bin.

Places that offer the best chances of survival for maggots attract flies as a good location to lay their eggs. Large clusters of food sources, like decomposing organic matter found in most general waste and food waste bins are ideal. Maggots feed on this for a few days before turning into flies and laying their own eggs.

It can be a repetitive cycle if you don’t take action to remove maggots from your wheelie bin – as each maggot feasts, pupates, lays eggs, and the cycle repeats. When it’s warmer waste rots faster in the heat, which attracts more flies as the conditions for survival and feasting are even better.

Killing maggots in a bin is the most effective way to get rid of them and reduce the chance of more appearing. There are various options to kill maggots in a wheelie bin that don’t require special equipment. Some of the best ways to kill maggots in a bin include to:

• Shake salt on your waste – covering their food source (the waste in your wheelie bin) with salt prevents their access to water. This leads to dehydration and death if the maggots can’t access another food source. Shaking salt directly on the maggots can also kill them.
• Pour over boiling water – mixing a small amount of bleach with boiling water and pouring over the maggots in your wheelie bin should kill them. You can also use vinegar instead of bleach to avoid contaminating your waste if it’s still in the bin.
• Empty your wheelie bins regularly – an easy way to get rid of maggots from your wheelie bin is to get them emptied. The maggots might not be killed but they should be removed with your waste, then you can kill any left behind with salt/boiling water and take preventative measures.

Reduce the chance of maggots in your wheelie bins with Business Waste. We provide free wheelie bins to separate and store many waste types – from general waste and food waste to recyclables such as glass, plastic, paper, cardboard, and dry mixed recycling. There are no rental charges for the bins, you only pay for collection.

Wheelie bin collections are available anywhere in the UK on a daily, weekly, or fortnightly schedule. Various sizes are available and licensed waste carriers remove them to ensure responsible recycling and disposal, avoiding any waste going to landfill. We provide clean wheelie bins that should minimise the chance of maggots making them their home.

Single use plastic cutlery, plates, and cups are cheap and convenient, but their disposal is problematic. They don’t break down and can leach chemicals, adding to pollution if they end up in landfill. Even though most single use plastics are recyclable only 10% of single use plastic items are recycled.

To reduce this negative environmental impact the UK government is introducing a single use plastic ban in England from October 2023. This follows on from the existing plastic ban on microbeads in 2018 and single use plastic straws in 2020. And there’s already a single use plastic ban in Scotland that came into force in June 2022.

If your business in England relies on single use plastic products in any form you should be adapting to comply with the ban. To help your organisation prepare for the ban on single use plastic we’ve answered the most important questions about it and provided some useful tips to remove single use plastics from your operations.

Single use plastics – also known as disposable plastics – are items made from plastic designed to be used once and then thrown away. They’re made from a variety of fossil fuel-based chemicals (petrochemicals) depending on the product. Common examples of single use plastics include disposable plastic cutlery, plates, and straws.

Up to 50% of plastic products are single use plastics around the world. This reflects the disposable lifestyle and culture that’s developed globally, and many industries rely on. While many single use plastics are recyclable lots end up in general waste, landfill, and as litter due to their throwaway nature.

There are a few exemptions to the England single use plastics ban for specific items:

• Single use plastic plates, bowls, and trays – you can still supply these if it’s to another business or they’re pre-supplied packaging (pre-filled or filled at the point of sale). Examples include a pre-filled salad bowl packaged in a tray, a plate filled at a takeaway counter, or a tray to deliver food.
• Single use polystyrene food and drinks containers – food or drink can still be supplied in polystyrene containers when it requires additional preparation before consumption. For example, this could mean adding water, microwaving, or toasting.

There are no exemptions for supplying single use plastic cutlery and balloon sticks.

The single use plastic ban in the UK is being introduced across different dates for England, Scotland, and Wales:

• The single use plastic ban in Scotland has been in action since 1 June 2022.
• In England, the single use plastics ban comes into force from 1 October 2023.
• The single use plastic ban in Wales is being introduced in two phases. Most single use plastics will be banned from Autumn 2023, but the following items won’t be banned until 2024 – single-use plastic carrier bags, polystyrene lids for cups and takeaway food containers, and oxo-degradable plastic products.

The main reason the UK government is banning single use plastics is to boost efforts to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042. Currently, in England, around 2.7 billion single-use cutlery items (mostly plastic) and 721 million single-use plates are thrown away every year. This ban aims to wipe out such waste.

Plastic cutlery was in the top 15 most littered items in the UK by count in 2020. And according to the European Commission, the 10 most common single-use plastic products found on European beaches account for 70% of all marine litter in the EU (alongside fishing gear).

Such a big change and the potential penalties for breaching the plastic ban in the UK means businesses need to be ready for the new rules. Companies in every industry must be compliant with the rules, whether you only provide a few disposable plastic spoons to customers in an ice cream café or regularly use polystyrene food containers.

There are a few things your business should do to prepare for the ban on single use plastic properly:

• Check your stock for disposable products – do an inventory of all single use plastic products your business still has and plan to use, sell, or donate them all before 1 October 2023.
• Find alternatives to single use plastic items – explore reusable, compostable, and biodegradable alternative solutions to the single use plastic items you currently use. Speak to your existing suppliers to see if they can offer an alternative and search for sustainable suppliers.
• Assess the costs – switching to different products and new suppliers will affect the costs to your business. Analyse how this fits with your budget and whether it’s the best choice.
• Consider the consumer – ensure whatever alternatives you source are still of a high quality that will impact your consumers as little as possible. Especially as most single use plastic items are used for food and drink, you’ll need to ensure the alternatives you use still meet all relevant food safety standards.

First, you’ll have to gather your wheelie bin cleaning products. The items you need depend on how dirty and pongy the wheelie bin is. If it’s cleaned regularly then just a bucket of warm water, a cloth, and some washing-up liquid should do the job. For filthier ones, you’ll need a few extra items.

Antibacterial or bleach sprays are necessary to destroy germs, but there are eco-conscious options to stay green when you clean. A homemade recipe of water, white vinegar, and lemon juice works just as well. Then throw down a bit of baking soda as the finishing touch to dry it off and keep bad odours at bay.

Put on some old clothes, slip into your marigold gloves, and psyche yourself up to transform your dirty bin into a shining beacon of the street or business park. You can clean a wheelie bin in any order but tackling the inside first feels like the more sensible option.

Move your wheelie bin into a clear space outside and ensure it’s empty of any waste bags, debris, and other bits of rubbish. Prepare and gather your wheelie bin cleaning products, turn on some motivational music (whether it’s Binyoncé or Kanye Waste) and get to work cleaning the inside of your wheelie bin:

• Base – scrape out any thick bits of grime, dirt, or rubbish stuck to the sides or bottom of the bin with a trowel or shovel. Lie the wheelie bin on its side and use a hose or pressure washer to blast away the dirt, pouring it out into a drain. Put the bin upright and add the antibacterial spray, bleach, or eco-friendly alternative and swill it around in the bottom. Leave to destroy the germs then pour it out and rinse with clean water.
• Sides – as you spray water into the base make sure you get the sides as well to remove any bits of dirt. Cover the four sides with the antibacterial spray too and leave for as long as necessary to kill any germs. Scrub the sides clean with a mop or hard brush before the cleaning solution in the base is poured out. After the bin is emptied of all liquids leave it to dry, either on its side or upside down (you can also use a towel to speed up the process).
• Lid – after washing the sides and base inside the bin, move onto the lid. Simply wipe the underside clean with a cloth and warm water, then apply the antibacterial spray and leave for a few minutes. Rinse it off with a sponge or cloth and some fresh water and leave it to dry.

Cleaning rubbish bins effectively is still possible if you don’t have a hose or pressure washer at home or work. It can be a bit more labour-intensive, and gloves are necessary, but you’ll still achieve sparkling results. This is how to clean a wheelie bin without a hose:

• Use a dustpan and brush to knock off any dirt and debris from in and outside of the wheelie bin.
• Pour a bucket of warm water into the base of the bin, shake the bin a bit to swill it around, then drain to remove any bin juice.
• Fill three-quarters of a bucket with warm water, a few squirts of washing-up liquid, and half a cup of white vinegar. Stir it in the bucket then pour most of it into the bin.
• Get a mop and plunge it into the bin, using the mixture to wash the sides and base. Dip a cloth into the remaining mixture in the bucket and wipe down the outside and lid.
• Drain the bin then chuck in a bucket of clean cold water to rinse and tip the bin on its side to drain. Rinse the outside of the bin too and leave it to dry in the sunshine (or use a towel if grey clouds are hovering nearby).

Not keen on the idea of cleaning wheelie bins? Save time, effort, and money with free wheelie bins for your commercial waste management. At Business Waste we can deliver a range of wheelie bin sizes to companies anywhere in the UK – you only pay for collection.

Choose from 120 litre to 1100 litre wheelie bins and use a variety to store everything from general waste to glass recycling, paper, cardboard, and food waste. There’s no need to clean them as our licensed waste carriers remove and replace your wheelie bins so they’re always looking fresh.

Buying a wheelie bin may seem like a sensible solution to store waste safely at your business or home. Working out the best price for a wheelie bin can be tricky though. There’s no single wheelie bin price and they vary greatly in cost across different suppliers and manufacturers.

How much a wheelie bin is usually depends on its size and quality (the material it’s manufactured from and any standards it meets). The price of wheelie bins for sale currently ranges from £30 to more than £200 based on the size and the seller. Buying a wheelie bin isn’t always the most cost-effective option though.

Avoid the cost and hassle of buying a wheelie bin with Business Waste. Get free wheelie bins delivered to your organisation anywhere in the UK – you only pay for collection. Call 0800 211 8390 or contact us online for a free no obligation quote tailored to the specific type, size, and number of wheelie bins you need.

Some waste management companies may charge rental or hire fees to use their wheelie bins to store your commercial waste. Renting should be cheaper than buying a wheelie bin. Hire costs for wheelie bins often depend on their size, waste type, collection frequency, how long you need to use them, and where your business is based.

Rental prices for wheelie bins vary greatly from as little as £1 or £2 a day to £60 a week. The supplier and number of wheelie bins you rent at a time can all impact the price. It should still work out cheaper than renting a skip for your commercial waste.

At Business Waste we provide free wheelie bins for your company to use – you only pay for collection. There are no rental charges or costs to hire or purchase any wheelie bin, whatever the size, type, and number of wheelie bins you need and wherever your business is based in the UK.

Councils have a legal obligation to collect household waste but will only do so if it’s in an appropriate bin that they provide. This is because the bin must fit the mechanical lifting equipment of their waste trucks. If you buy your own domestic bin and it’s the wrong size or type they may not collect your waste.

In many cases, you can buy a wheelie bin from the council in your area. Often you’ll need to do this if your old bin was stolen or damaged, you move into a new home without a bin, or you want an extra bin for your home. Not all councils allow additional household bins though, so check with your local authority first.

The cost of a replacement wheelie bin from the council is normally free, but there’s often an admin and delivery fee. A wheelie bin replacement cost can vary depending on the size and type of bin and your specific local council and their fees. Generally, the cost of a replacement wheelie bin is anywhere from £40 to £50.

Businesses and homes build up stacks of documents containing sensitive information that eventually need destroying. It could be old bank statements, invoices, CVs, and anything else with personal data. They must be disposed of responsibly to protect the individuals and businesses whose private information they contain – they can’t be recycled with paper.

Shredding confidential papers is an easy and efficient way to destroy sensitive documents and data. However, not every business and household owns a shredder. You might not have the space, money, or need to use a shredder regularly enough to justify buying one. There are other ways to destroy important documents without a shredder though.

Find out how to get rid of confidential papers without a shredder in your business or at home with this guide.

Soaking paper documents in water for one or two days and mixing it around is an effective way to make them unreadable. This dissolves the paper into a pulp that you can break up by hand. However, you’ll need the space and patience to leave your documents in buckets of water in a secure place.

You can speed up the paper pulping process by adding bleach to the water. Ensure you use a container that can withstand bleach and wear protective gloves. The bleach destroys the colourants within the ink to leave little traces behind. Then drain the water and bleach safely to avoid it affecting the environment.

Leave the pulp to dry in the sun before disposing of it with your general waste, as unfortunately, it won’t be recyclable. If you only used water and no bleach then the wet pup could be used as mulch on a garden and possibly sent for composting.

Cutting up confidential documents with scissors or tearing them by hand is a cheap and easy way to destroy important papers without a shredder. You can also use a hole punch to make printed words and numbers unreadable, such as bank account numbers and addresses. Depending on the size, you might be able to recycle this paper too.

However, it’s a time-consuming task depending on how many documents you need to destroy and the size of your team. It’s not always the most secure way to get rid of confidential data either, as if the papers aren’t torn or cut up small enough then potential thieves could stick them back together.

If you want to shred your confidential documents but don’t own a shredder there are various alternatives. Shredding important papers into smaller pieces can make it harder for any information or data from them to be stolen. It’s also much more environmentally friendly than burning paper or using chemicals such as bleach to destroy them.

Consider an alternative to a paper shredder with these methods:

• Scissors – manually shredding paper with scissors is a simple and effective solution. It can take a while and be labour-intensive, depending on how many sheets you need to shred. Speed up the process with shears or multi-blade scissors.
• Tearing – simply tearing up your confidential papers by hand is a cheap and easy way to destroy them. You’ll need to ensure they’re split into incredibly thin pieces so the information can’t be stuck back together though.
• Hole punch – if you’ve got paper documents that only contain a few bits of sensitive information then using a hole punch on these sections is an effective method. This can remove private data and make it hard to read. You can dispose of it separately from the rest of the document for added security.

You can destroy paper documents in a washing machine. Water turns paper into a pulp and the added spins and force of the machine make the writing unreadable. However, you should put the paper documents in a laundry bag or stocking and tie the top tightly to avoid ending up with a mess.

Once the spin cycle is over just open the bag to check the documents are destroyed and dispose of them with your general waste. You can only destroy regular paper documents in a washing machine, it won’t work for laminated paper or some types of glossy paper.

• What is code 7 recycling?
• Can type 7 plastic be recycled?
• How is code 7 recycled?
• Why is recycling code 7 important?

Code 7 recycling is a catch-all term used to cover all the types of plastic that don’t fall under any of the other six categories. Products that include the code 7 recycling logo may be made of multiple types of plastic or one single material that doesn’t fall under any of the other six codes.

Some common plastic types that fall under code 7 include:

• Polycarbonate (PC)
• Polylactic Acid (PLA)
• Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS)
• Acrylic
• Fibreglass
• Nylon

Recycling type 7 plastic is tricky as it doesn’t refer to one specific waste material. Some of the waste that falls under plastic recycling code 7 is made from multiple plastic types that are hard or impossible to separate and recycle. Other items are simply made from plastic materials that aren’t currently recyclable.

However, some types of code 7 plastic are recyclable – such as polycarbonate. Therefore, it’s always worth sending code 7 plastic for recycling, as they should be sorted and separated at the recycling centre. This helps any recyclable materials be picked out and reused, while everything else should be disposed of responsibly.

Recycling code 7 plastics at home is difficult. Most local authorities and councils don’t accept waste items with the code 7 logo as sorting, processing, and recycling can be too time-consuming and expensive. You could see if your local household waste recycling centre (HWRC) accepts it.

Recycling code 7 products is important as these plastics are sometimes neglected and disposed of with general waste. This may result in such plastic waste ending up in landfill, which contributes to pollution and takes up space when it could be reused. Plastics in landfill also leach chemicals that further damage the local environment.

It can take hundreds of years for products made from polycarbonate, acrylic, and other miscellaneous plastics to break down. Recycling saves valuable resources and energy and protects the environment. Not all code 7 products are recyclable but those that are will be separated and repurposed, while the rest should be disposed of responsibly.

Code 7 recycling also lowers your commercial waste disposal costs. It reduces how much landfill tax you pay by ensuring none of your company’s plastic waste ends up at a landfill site. It’s also easy for businesses to recycle code 7 plastic as you can place it in the same recycling bins as all other types of plastic waste you produce.

The government plans to introduce mandatory digital waste tracking across the UK by 2024. It aims to provide a comprehensive way to see what happens to the more than 200 million tonnes of waste the UK produces annually. This should show where and how waste is created, who handles it, what happens to it, and where it ends up.

Currently, there’s no single way of tracking all waste created in the UK. Legislation around waste transport, management and descriptions have been introduced separately over the last few decades. Data about waste is collected by both private contractors and the government across different IT and even paper systems. Mandatory digital waste tracking aims to centralise this.

We’ve answered some key questions about the service to help you understand what mandatory digital waste tracking is, why it’s being introduced, how it could work, and what it might mean for your business.

Under the proposed mandatory digital waste tracking service all waste types will be tracked. This includes hazardous and non-hazardous waste, green waste, extractive waste (from quarries), and all other types of commercial and industrial waste. Therefore, every business will be affected by the new tracking service whatever types and amounts of commercial waste they produce.

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Environment Agency set out commitments in the ‘Resources and waste strategy for England’ published in 2018. This is a strategy to minimise waste, promote resource efficiency and move towards a circular economy to preserve material resources.

Mandatory digital waste tracking aims to work towards these commitments and:

• Determine what happens to our waste – to gain a good understanding of whether waste is recycled, recovered, or disposed of and identify actions for improvement.
• Improve sustainability – waste producers and waste managers will have accurate data to see how much waste they produce and how it’s managed, to make informed decisions and changes to enhance their sustainability.
• Centralise, collate, and digitise waste data – current waste data is spread across digital and paper systems and tracking isn’t mandatory. Mandatory digital waste tracking aims to bring all waste information together.

The vaping market is one of the UK’s largest growing consumer goods sectors, currently valued at around £1 billion. Vaping shops and the many varieties of e-cigarettes they sell are everywhere. However, there are still many unknowns and some growing concerns around vaping as it’s a relatively recent innovation.

These range from health effects to advertising rules and the environmental impact of old vapes. We’re not medical professionals or advertising gurus, but we are waste management experts who can advise on how to dispose of vapes. The materials they’re made from, how they’re made, and what people and businesses do with them can have a significant environmental effect.

Correct vape disposal depends on various factors, including the type, brand, and whether it’s a consumer or business getting rid of an old one. Discover how and where to dispose of vapes safely and in an eco-friendly way with this guide.

• Vape disposal facts
• Types of vapes
• How to dispose of a reusable vape
• How to recycle vapes
• How to dispose of disposable vapes

There were some earlier developments but the first type of e-cigarette (or vape) on the market arrived in 2004, according to the National Library of Medicine. Since then, the vaping market has boomed and there are a few different types of vapes available:

• Vape pens – these are common vapes in a cylindrical shape that can be either disposable or reusable depending on the brand.
• Pod vapes – there are two parts to a pod vape (or pod mod), a rechargeable battery and the replaceable and refillable pod.
• Box mods – currently these are the biggest vapes that have an external battery with variable wattage and temperature control, and a refillable tank.
• Disposable vapes – disposable vapes come in many sizes and flavours and once the battery or liquid runs out you throw it away.

Many brands are bringing out new vapes all the time and should include proper disposal instructions with their products. Generally, the best way to dispose of a vape depends on whether it’s a reusable or disposable vape.

Vape recycling is possible for reusable and refillable devices. The most sustainable option is to keep refilling and reusing the same vape where possible. However, if the vape becomes badly damaged, the battery completely dies, or you need to upgrade then recycling the vape is your next best option.

You can recycle vapes by dismantling them and separating their parts to recycle them alongside the same materials:

• Battery recycling – if your vape has a removable battery you can separate it and take it to any battery recycling point, found in many supermarkets. Vapes with built-in batteries can be taken to most local household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) for recycling with WEEE waste or returned to many vape retailers.
• Pods and tanks – remove the pod, tank, or cartridge from your vape and thoroughly wash it out with water to remove all the excess e-liquid residue. Any glass tanks or pods can then be recycled with glass recycling. If it’s made of plastic, check the packaging and bottom of the cartridge or pod for a recycling symbol and number. Check if you can recycle this type of plastic in your household recycling bin or if you should take it to your nearby HWRC.
• Coils – most coils are removable from the pod or tank, but if not please check the recycling instructions for your specific vape. Remove the coil and separate the cotton or wicking, then wash off any e-liquid residue. The remaining coil can be recycled with metals and in some household recycling bins.

You can recycle disposable vapes. Place them in a vape disposal bin, return them to an electrical retailer, or recycle them with WEEE items at your local HWRC. They’ll be transported to a recycling facility where the vapes are dismantled and separated into their components.

These components are checked, sorted, cleaned, and recycled alongside the same materials. The only element of a vape that can’t be recycled is the cotton wick, as it will be heavily contaminated and may even be burnt. Learn more about how each part of a vape is recycled based on its material in our comprehensive guides:

• Battery recycling – lithium-ion battery from the vape
• Metal recycling – the coil inside a vape
• Plastic recycling – the plastic exterior
• Glass recycling – if the vape has a glass tank or component

Businesses must arrange commercial waste collection of any old vapes they produce. This could be through customer returns, staff getting rid of old vapes, or any other means. Removal by licensed waste carriers and recycling is vital and a legal requirement. The easiest way to do this is with WEEE bins and collections.

At Business Waste, we can provide free WEEE bins in a range of sizes to store old vapes safely on your premises. Then arrange collection on a schedule that suits you – either a one-off removal or regular collections. Licensed waste carriers remove your WEEE bins and ensure it’s recycled and disposed of responsibly.

Festival waste has been a big challenge for decades. Photos of abandoned tents, trampled food waste, empty beer cans and plastic bottles littering muddy fields follow each instance of Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds festivals, and Parklife every year. The amount of waste created isn’t the worrying thing though – it’s what happens to it.

A shocking 68% of waste ends up in landfill that’s produced at UK music festivals annually. Effective festival waste management could significantly reduce that and ensure as much as possible is recycled and reused. And it’s not just the big festivals, the likes of local beer festivals, summer fairs, and street carnivals all need strong waste management plans.

Understand how to overcome the challenges of festival waste whatever size, type, and length of festival you’re holding. Use the following top tips for successful, smooth, and stress-free festival waste management.

Putting together a festival waste management plan is essential before running any event. It means you can assess your festival, identify potential problem areas, and take a proactive approach to minimise waste-related risks. This vital document should cover everything you need to ensure smooth waste management.

A good place to start is to ask existing and successful festivals of a similar size, type, and location if you can see their waste management plan. You can use this as a blueprint and at the same time ask if they’ve got any advice or useful information about managing waste from their experiences.

Otherwise, you can create your festival waste management plan from scratch. Use information such as ticket sales, the maximum capacity, the number of vendors and staff, details of the site, and any data from previous events to inform your plan where possible.

Having a range of recycling bins onsite is the first step to reducing your festival waste. These need clearly labelling with the specific recyclable rubbish they’re designed to hold. Use different coloured bins for each waste type to reduce the risk of cross-contamination and encourage segregation.

Place clear signs around the site directing towards recycling bins and add the recycling station to any site maps. For all vendors, you should also have a recycling policy in place outlining their responsibilities. Provide enough recycling bins for each vendor and stall so they also recycle as much as possible.

The best way to encourage recycling at a festival is to lead by example too. Serve drinks in recyclable or compostable plastic or paper cups, use recyclable or biodegradable cutlery and plates, and eliminate all single-use plastic. Requiring vendors to follow such guidelines can significantly increase recycling rates across your festival.

Unfortunately, there’ll always be some people who don’t use the right bins (or any bins at all!), no matter how hard you try to control consumer waste at your festival. This can result in empty plastic cups, food packaging, paper plates, and more being littered across the site.

Assemble a team dedicated to festival waste management to combat those rogue festivalgoers. Include litter pickers to reduce the amount of rubbish that could fly off the site and negatively impact the local environment. Also, have professionals overseeing the wider waste operations – ensuring bins don’t overflow, access routes are clear, and collections happen on time.

Most festivals either pay their dedicated waste management team or enlist the help of volunteers by providing free tickets. Have a rota to ensure staff aren’t overworked and have enough time to enjoy the festivities. The best option depends on the size, type, popularity, and budget for your festival.

Ensure you book delivery of all bins, bags, and containers well in advance of your festival, so they can be placed on site in good time. Waste collections should be arranged with as little disruption to festival goers and vendors as possible. If you’re running a one-day event, it makes sense to do this the following day.

For multi-day festivals, you might need waste collection across the weekend. Arrange these at the quietest times when access routes should be clear. This avoids delaying the removal of your festival waste, reduces the risk of accidents, and empties bins before they become too full (which can be a health hazard and result in overweight charges).

• What is the plastic packaging tax?
• Plastic packaging types covered by the tax
• Who must register for the plastic packaging tax?

The plastic packaging tax is a relatively new tax introduced by the UK government on April 1^st, 2022. It applies to any business that manufactures or imports 10 or more tonnes of plastic packaging annually that contains less than 30% recycled plastic. It aims to encourage the use of more recycled plastic packaging by UK businesses.

The current rates of PPT are:

• £200 per tonne from 1 April 2022
• £210.82 per tonne from 1 April 2023

Any organisation that meets the criteria must submit quarterly returns to HMRC about their plastic packaging usage. These need to detail the weights of plastic packaging components imported into the UK or manufactured in the UK containing 30% or more recycled content, and/or any that is exempt.

Businesses that must register for the plastic packaging tax include importers of filled or unfilled plastic packaging and UK manufacturers of plastic packaging. However, you only need to register for the plastic packaging tax if you place more than 10 tonnes of plastic packaging onto the UK market.

According to HMRC, the tax applies when the plastic components are finished. This means when the last substantial modification to the plastic packaging or component is made. It’s the final change to the packaging component’s nature that affects its shape, structure, thickness, and/or weight. It could also be the last modification before the packaging is filled with goods.

Businesses that manufacture or import less than 10 tonnes of plastic packaging per year are currently exempt from the plastic packaging tax in the UK. You must keep a record though. Any plastic packaging made from more than 30% recycled content is also exempt from the tax but must still be recorded.

According to the UK government, there are four categories of plastic packaging tax exemptions. These are any plastic packaging that’s:

• Used for the immediate packaging of licensed human medicine
• Permanently recorded as set aside for non-packaging use
• Used as transport packaging to import multiple goods safely into the UK
• Used in aircraft, ship, and rail goods stores

However, both plastic packaging used for human medicinal products and permanently recorded as set aside for non-packaging use apply to the total weight of packaging manufactured or imported. The other two categories of plastic packaging tax exemption don’t need to be included when working out the total weight of packaging manufactured or imported.

Easter egg packaging recycling is essential to ensure no trace is left behind from the 80 million Easter eggs we buy in the UK every year. Most of us eat all the chocolate (often faster than we’d like to admit). But what we do with the card, plastic, and foil packaging affects the environment.

Chocolatiers and brands focus on bright and colourful Easter egg packaging to attract the attention of both young and older chocoholics. And it works. Who doesn’t associate that purple, red, and yellow splash with a Cadbury Crème Egg? But how easy is recycling Easter egg packaging once you’ve scoffed the chocolate?

Eggsplore some facts about Easter waste, ways to recycle Easter egg packaging, and how to reduce the amount of Easter packaging your household or business uses in this guide.

This guide has been updated to reflect current UK recycling legislation, including Simpler Recycling reforms and new packaging regulations affecting Easter products.

The good news is that today, most Easter egg packaging is recyclable. Due to Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) rules tightening in recent years, manufacturers pay according to the amount of packaging they include in products, and the recyclability of this packaging. However, you can still find plastic windows and some wrappers for sweets, chocolates, and treats that certain Easter eggs include which are trickier or impossible to recycle. Most packaging can be recycled in your household or workplace recycling bins but check with your local authority or waste service first.

Separate the individual materials and follow these tips for recycling Easter egg packaging:

• Easter egg foil recycling – clean off any chocolate to ensure it’s clean and to avoid contamination. Scrunch it into a ball the size of your fist, which reduces the risk of small bits falling through or getting caught in the recycling machines. Then place it in your recycling bin.
• Cardboard – take out any plastic windows first and check if there’s any glitter or plastic attached. If so, these can’t be recycled and should go in your general waste bin. Most cardboard Easter egg packaging is recyclable though, just flatten it and place it in your recycling bin or a cardboard or paper bin at work.
• Plastic shell – check the type of plastic the shell is made from (the number in a recycling triangle). Most are PET1, which is the same plastic type used for plastic drinks bottles. Nearly all local authorities in the UK accept these in their household recycling bins, while you can also recycle them in commercial plastic recycling bins. Under the Plastic Packaging Tax, which affects packaging with less than 30% recyclable content, manufacturers are finding innovative ways to increase the percentage of the plastic shell that can be recycled.
• Plastic wrappers – look at the back of the wrapper and it should say whether the wrapper is recyclable and/or have a plastic type number. Check whether your local authority accepts these in domestic recycling bins. If not, you can take them to some supermarkets that collect plastic bags and film, as well as a TerraCycle point. Otherwise, they should be disposed of with general waste.

Once you’ve separated the Easter egg packaging waste, put it in the right recycling bins, and they’ve been collected, what happens next? The recycling process is different for each type of material. Generally, Easter egg packaging is recycled in these ways:

• Foil recycling – when recycling Easter egg foil it’s sorted and recycled alongside other aluminium foil, like foil trays and aluminium drinks cans. It’s all cleaned, compressed, and melted down into raw aluminium. This is used to create new foil sheets, trays, cans, and other products.
• Cardboard recycling – waste cardboard is separated into boxboard and corrugated cardboard and different grades. It’s shredded, mixed with water to form a slurry, and combined with pulp made from wood chips. Finally, it’s filtered, chemically processed, cleaned, dried, and turned into new cardboard sheets.
• Plastic recycling – plastics are sorted and cleaned first. Then it’s shredded into flakes and melted into pellets that are used to create new plastic products. Some recycling uses waste plastic to produce petroleum. Many major UK supermarkets now accept soft plastic packaging, and kerbside collection expansion is expected to continue.

Not everything about Easter is eggcellent. Despite that classic pun being used in every marketing campaign for the holiday, the celebrations create lots of eggstra waste (ok, the puns stop here). We Brits spend around £300 million on chocolate at Easter every year but produce tonnes more food, packaging, and other waste celebrating.

And it’s not just our additional chocolate consumption that creates more waste at this time of year. There’s extra food for an Easter feast, decorations, cards, and wrapping paper for gifts. Lots of this rubbish is recyclable, yet plenty still makes its way to landfill. With a few tips, we can change this and keep Easter the sign of new life it’s supposed to be.

Crack on with these fascinating facts about the holiday and ideas for a low and zero waste Easter at home and in your business.

Many Easter eggs come with lots of packaging that’s not always 100% recyclable, especially if it gets damaged being hidden outside. Hiding chocolate eggs with no protection isn’t a hygienic or safe idea inside or outside though. There are plenty of other ways you can plan and eggsecute (last one) a fun zero waste Easter egg hunt:

• Hide wooden eggs in the garden. Kids can find these and then get rewarded with a chocolate egg. They’re better for the environment than plastic eggs and can be reused next year or for other activities, such as painting.
• Make your own paper or card eggs if you’re having an indoor hunt. It’s a great way to use up any old paper and card you’ve got lying around and it can be recycled.
• Buy chocolate Easter eggs in foil without the additional plastic casing. This protects the chocolate when placed outside and the foil is recyclable.
• Decorate small stones with egg designs that you can reuse or wash off after the hunt.
• Give kids a map and clues to follow, rather than searching for eggs, with a big Easter-themed prize at the end.

Lots of businesses and homes use plastic grass to add a spring touch. However, plastic grass is rarely recyclable and can take around 500 years to degrade. If it goes to landfill the chemicals the plastic contains can leach into the ground and contaminate nearby ground and water.

There are many sustainable and recyclable Easter decorations to consider instead. Flowers, plants, and branches make a great centrepiece and can be arranged into wreaths for natural decorations. Plenty of paper and card decorations are fully recyclable or can be kept for reuse next year.

Here are our top tips:

• Avoid floral foam blocks.
• Use reusable vases or wire frames.
• Compost real flowers.
• Avoid dyed or glitter-coated plants.

You can also make your own Easter decorations from items you’ll find at home. Use old toilet or kitchen rolls and attach little card ears and feet to create rabbits. Traditional hand-painted eggs are another great way to use up eggshells. Paint them or use felt tip pens, and add glitter, ribbons, and any other decorations.

Shrove Tuesday – commonly known as Pancake Day, Pancake Tuesday, or Fat Tuesday – should be one of the most celebrated days for reducing food waste. It’s observed by Christians around the world as the day before Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent – 40 days when many Christians fast (or give up a luxury food or drink item).

The idea of pancakes comes from the tradition of using up rich and luxurious foods (mainly eggs, milk, and sugar) before the fast starts. While the religious ties may have lessened in the UK, slapping together sweet and savoury pancakes on this Tuesday is as strong as ever. However, the practice of reducing food waste has also fallen off, with the day creating more waste food in some cases.

Don’t let your day go as flat as those first pancakes by adding to the UK’s already terrifying food waste figures. Discover how to reduce food waste in your home or business when flipping those pancakes this Shrove Tuesday.

Follow a tried and tested pancake recipe so you’ve got a good idea of how many you’ll make. Portion control is important to avoid excess batter and pancakes, so consider how many you’ll all likely eat before you begin. Measuring jugs, scales, and frying pans are your friend here.

Planning your portions also helps estimate how many ingredients you need to save money by avoiding overbuying items. Check your cupboards before you go shopping as you might already have most of the things you need to make pancakes. Flour and sugar especially last for ages and are used in many other recipes. It’s a great way to use up ingredients and reduce food waste.

If you do need to buy fresh ingredients, consider shopping at a zero-waste store. This can reduce the amount of packaging waste created when preparing pancakes.

Pancake Day throws up more than just food waste. There’s all the packaging for your ingredients to deal with as well. Check the labels first but thankfully most packaging should be recyclable, which is a more sustainable option than throwing them away with your general waste. Recycle different packaging materials in the following ways:

• Glass recycling – glass bottles and jars for milk, honey, and jam should be rinsed out and recycled at your local bottle bank. Businesses can arrange glass waste collection.
• Plastic recycling – plastic milk bottles, margarine tubs, and pots should be washed out and dried then put in your household recycling bin. Check the plastic number and if your local authority accepts the type in your domestic recycling if you’re unsure.
• Paper recycling – flour and sugar bags are often made of paper, which can be recycled with your household recycling. Try to remove as much flour or sugar as possible but ensure the packets stay dry.

Love is in the air, but sadly so is plenty of pollution. Mother Earth is always left unimpressed at this time of year due to the amount of Valentine’s Day waste we create. Empty chocolate boxes, deflated balloons, and novelty plastic gifts rotting in landfill all add to carbon emissions and pollution levels.

But there’s no need to be a hopeless romantic. Show your passion for the planet and your other half with a low or zero-waste Valentine’s this year. There are plenty of little things we can all do to cut down on how much rubbish we produce showering each other with love.

Make your Valentine’s Day as green as your true love’s rival admirers with these facts and tips for a low-waste-loving celebration.

The easiest way to have a low-waste Valentine’s Day is to simply not celebrate it. Sack off the plastic presents, packaged chocolates, and wilting roses. Save on the fuel and food waste that going out for a meal could create. And prepare to face the wrath of your better half.

Skipping Valentine’s Day is only possible when you’re both truly on board with it. A safer and greener option is to have a low-waste Valentine’s Day, which you can do with these ideas:

• Cook at home – it’s cheaper, saves on fuel, and gives you more control over food waste. Eat up any leftovers the next day and use any by-products from preparation in other dishes. Plus, it ensures you both get a meal you enjoy and shows your thoughtful side.
• Ditch the gifts – loads of valentine’s gifts are gimmicky, made from cheap plastic, and get thrown out a few weeks later. Why not make a pact to not buy gifts this year (a serious pact)? Use the money on an experience you’ll both enjoy instead.
• Pick potted plants – bouquets of cut roses and other flowers only last a week or so. Then there’s the plastic wrapping that’s normally impossible or difficult to recycle. Instead, buy a potted plant (ideally UK grown too) for the home or garden, which will last much longer. Tulips and hydrangeas are good as they bloom in spring.
• Dim the lights – an easy way to both save electricity and form a warm and romantic atmosphere.
• Make your own card – many Valentine’s Day cards are sustainable but those with glitter and plastic as part of their design aren’t recyclable. Craft your own using card and photos you’ve got lying around the house already for an eco-friendlier option.
• Avoid wrapping paper – plenty of romantic gifts come ready wrapped but unless it’s 100% paper it’s often not recyclable. Place presents in a reusable bag or use paper that’s recyclable to avoid adding more waste to landfill.

“Roses are red, Violets are blue, Compost old flowers, And save the planet too.” It might not be as romantic as the original rhyme, but it’s some good advice to cut down on your Valentine’s Day waste. You’ve no control over what gifts you might receive from your secret admirer(s), but you can control how you get rid of them.

Recycle and dispose of valentine’s Day gifts sustainably with these actions:

• Compost flowers – never throw old flowers in with your general waste. They’re organic waste and will decompose, creating good-quality compost to use in your garden in the future.
• Recycle cards – nobody keeps their Valentine’s cards up all year. Remove any glitter, plastic, and other materials then dispose of them with your dry mixed recycling at home or work.
• Glass recycling – clean out old candle holders, perfume bottles, wine and beer bottles and take them to your local bottle bank to recycle.
• Return electronic presents – if you received any loving gifts that use batteries, whatever they may be, you can return electronic items at the end of their life to most manufacturers or electronic retailers. They should accept your WEEE waste and arrange for it to be recycled.
• Donate unwanted gifts – things not work out? Teddy bears and plastic romantic gifts from your ex might not be recyclable but give them a clean and donate them at your local charity shop so someone else can find a loving home for them.

A material safety data sheet (MSDS) is a document containing information about specific chemical substances and the potential hazards of a product. It details the chemicals it contains, the possible hazards (health, fire, reactivity, and environmental), and how to safely handle, store, and dispose of it.

Organisations that work with chemicals or products containing any amount of hazardous materials must pay close attention to the MSDS. This includes if you supply, handle, or use any hazardous items. It ensures employees are familiar with their potentially harmful substances, how to handle them, and stay safe.

MSDS and waste management are closely linked as the sheet includes information about safe disposal. It’s important for all industries but especially healthcare, research laboratories, and automotive sectors. Learn more about what a material safety data sheet is and how to use it to keep your business safe.

Any chemical waste and types of hazardous waste will likely come with a material safety data sheet (MSDS). This mainly covers chemical waste and a variety of medical waste – such as infectious waste, old medication, and more. The MSDS with this waste should detail how to store and dispose of it safely.

Some of the main types of waste that have an MSDS include:

• Clinical waste – medicines and vials that may be hazardous
• Pharmaceutical waste – old medication and prescription drugs
• Oil waste – including waste motor oil and engine oil types
• Batteries – old AA batteries to car batteries may contain hazardous materials
• WEEE waste – certain electrical products that contain hazardous materials

An important purpose of a material safety data sheet is to protect the environment, as well as keeping employees safe when handling hazardous materials. Every MSDS should include information about the disposal considerations, and the ecological and environmental impact of the product. These are essential for managing the waste disposal of the product properly.

You’ll need to arrange commercial waste collection for any waste you produce that comes with an MSDS as a business. Professional waste management companies such as Business Waste can use the MSDS and advise on the appropriate measures to store, remove, and dispose of such waste in a safe, legal, and environmentally friendly way.

• How to recycle old computers and laptops
• How to recycle old computers as a business
• How to recycle old computers at home
• What is the computer recycling process?
• What to do before recycling a computer

The WEEE Regulations 2013 dictate that businesses are responsible for financing the collection, treatment, and recovery of any e-waste they produce. This includes computers, laptops, and any other IT equipment that has a plug, uses batteries, or needs charging. To recycle computers as a business you must arrange commercial waste collection.

Use a professional waste management service for recycling computers your business no longer needs – whether they’re old or broken. This ensures your old computers are removed by licensed waste carriers and taken to a relevant recycling facility where as much of the materials will be recovered, reused, and recycled as possible.

Your business will receive a duty of care certificate to show your old computers were recycled in line with the WEEE regulations and any other relevant legislation. Commercial waste collections provide the easiest and safest way to recycle old computers from any business.

Computers and laptops are made from a combination of different materials including plastic, metal, glass, and precious metals. Most computers are made from up to 23% plastic but can also contain toxic substances such as lead, mercury, cobalt, and more. Safely separating all elements is vital to recycle computer parts efficiently.

Once old computers are collected, they’re transported to a recycling centre for processing. The exact steps can vary between facilities, but the general computer recycling process is:

• Sorting – old computers are sorted by their type and separated for processing. Computers with cathode ray tubes (CRT) are sent for processing in one line, for example.
• Testing – depending on the facility, the computers and parts may be tested. If they still work and are in decent condition, they may be sent for upgrading and refurbishing, rather than recycling. These refurbished computers are then sold or donated.
• Disassembling – the main computer components are removed, such as the speakers, circuit board, sound and graphics cards, and hard disks. Normally this is done manually to ensure such computer parts can be reused and sold to computer manufacturers.
• Separating – further dismantling and separating of components follows with the plastics, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, and CRT elements. The CRT parts contain types of hazardous materials including lead, cadmium, mercury, phosphors, and barium. These are then sent to special facilities to remove the likes of lead from the CRT glass panel.
• Data destroying – hard drives and processors are shredded to ensure all data is destroyed. This waste can then be recycled into aluminium ingots and used in the automotive sector.

Recycling old computers is important to prevent them ending up in landfill. If old computers go to landfill, then chemicals from the plastics and other hazardous materials contained in them can leach into the ground, air, and nearby water. This negatively affects the local environment and adds to pollution levels and CO2 emissions.

When computers aren’t recycled then new materials are also required to create fresh IT equipment. This requires lots of energy and the use of raw materials, which can damage natural habitats. Computer recycling uses much less energy and materials to manufacture new computers, which also reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

Send any old computers from your business for recycling with Business Waste. We provide free bins and containers of various sizes to store computers, IT equipment and any type of WEEE waste on-site. You just pay for collection and our licensed waste carriers will remove it at an agreed time.

They’ll transport your old computers to a nearby waste management facility for safe and legal recycling. You also receive a free duty of care certificate for peace of mind that your old business computers are recycled. Arrange collections as a one-off or on a daily, weekly, or fortnightly basis wherever you’re based in the UK.

Get a free quote for computer waste collections whatever your industry. Contact us online or call 0800 211 8390 and one of our friendly team will provide a no-obligation quote tailored to your needs.