Get ready for new recycling rules

Simpler Recycling, part of The Environmental Regulations Act 2024, is set to come into force from 31 March 2025. Aiming to make the recycling system simpler and to reduce the amount of food waste going to landfill, the changes will see a requirement for both households and businesses to have four bins or containers for:

• non-recyclable waste
• food waste (which can be mixed with garden waste)
  
• paper and card
  
• other dry recyclable materials (including plastic, metal and glass)
  

The changes will be phased in over the next two years.

31 March 2025: Businesses with more than 10 employees, including relevant nurseries, pre-schools and childminders without domestic premises that produce more than 5kg of waste per week, should arrange for the collection of dry recyclables and food waste – aside from plastic film packaging and plastic bags.

31 March 2026: Councils will collect all sorted dry and food waste – aside from plastic film packages and plastic bags – for households, including childminders on domestic premises, in separate weekly collections.

31 March 2027: Collections for households, childminders and businesses will be widened to include plastic film packaging and plastic bags. Businesses with fewer than 10 employees (including smaller early years providers who have not yet adopted the changes) will now be required to sort waste into the four categories listed above.

Ahead of the changes, settings should assess where each bin will be located – both inside and outside the setting to ensure it is both safe and easy to access. This might involve a conversation with your landlord, particularly if your provision is a pack-away setting.

Providers will also need to budget for how much each bin will cost, especially when considering that in addition to external bins settings may need bins throughout to help with organising materials into each category. Settings may want to involve all staff in sorting and arranging waste to share the responsibility and workload across the setting.

A good way to limit cost and space might be to focus on initially reducing the amount of waste settings produce rather than just focusing on recycling.

Whether it’s teaching children about the importance of the environment, encouraging them to safely sort materials, or teaching them about the importance of reducing waste, these changes present a perfect opportunity to educate children about the need to recycle and look after our planet.

At the Alliance, we will shortly be releasing our Environmental Sustainability Toolkit, which will include detail on eco-sustainability and how to use play to support children’s understanding of the environment.

You can register your interest here: bit.ly/u5-sustainability-toolkit.