New Rules & Legal Duty for Recycling in England

As of 31 March 2025, all businesses, charities and public sector organisations have a legal duty to ensure waste disposal is safe, secure and legal and take all reasonable steps to keep waste to a minimum. (Micro organisation with less than 10 employees have until 31 March 2027).

LABGC have written a policy statement and procedure to help us comply that you can amend and adopt for your club/organisation. Download it here.

If you do not comply with these requirements you are at risk of receiving a compliance notice from the Environment Agency (EA).

All workplaces in England must separate their waste before it’s collected, including any waste produced by employees, customers and visitors.

You must always separate:

• dry recyclable materials (plastic, metal, glass, paper and card)
• food waste (coffee granules, tea bags, vegetable skins, etc.)
• non-recyclable waste (also called residual waste)

Waste management contractors, have a legal obligation to make sure any separately collected dry recyclables are sent for recycling and that any non-recyclable waste is correctly managed.