Government have finally confirmed the long-awaited policies for consistent recycling collections for households and businesses.

Branded as ‘a new, simpler common-sense approach to recycling’, the reforms are said to be more convenient and practical, enabling people across England to recycle the same materials and put an end to confusion over what can and can’t be recycled in different parts of the country.

Weekly collections of food waste will also be introduced for most households across England by 2026. This will also stop a trend towards three- or four-weekly bin collections seen in some local authorities across the UK.

The Government is also proposing new exemptions to make sure that waste collectors will be able to collect dry recyclables together, in the same bin or bag, and collect organic waste together, to reduce the number of bins required.

Timescales:

Households recycling collections: Councils will be legally required to collect all specified packaging materials for recycling by March 2026 except soft plastics which is by 31 March 2027 (or earlier if they are able to do so).

Businesses recycling collections: Businesses will be legally required to collect all specified packaging materials for recycling by March 2025 except soft plastics which is by 31 March 2027 (businesses can be offered recycling collections for materials sooner by their contractors if possible).

Micro-firms recycling collections (defined as those with 10 or fewer employees): Legally required to collect all specific packaging materials for recycling by March 2027 for all materials.

The policies document can be found here, which outlines the policies to be taken forward. For reference a summary of responses to the 2021 Consultation on Consistency are here.

For ease, the Industry Council for Packaging & the Environment (INCPEN) have also kindly provided a Summary of the Government’s Key Policies.