In this article
When's bin day?
If your business has more than 10 full-time employees, bin day is 31st March. Because that’s when new waste management legislation in England* makes it mandatory for businesses to separate waste into three separate streams to aid recycling. So if you want to reduce wasted time as well as waste, you should ask ERIKS for guidance and support on the quickest and easiest ways to make your business more ‘bin friendly’.
Recycling plays a major role in keeping waste out of landfill and helping to make industry more sustainable. However, when it comes to keeping different types of waste separate, our workplaces have been, frankly, rubbish.
That all has to change from the end of March, when all workplaces apart from ‘micro-firms’ (exempted until 2027) will have to follow the ‘Simpler recycling: workplace recycling in England’ guidance.
If that doesn’t sound simple at all, ERIKS can help.
Which waste is which?
Under the terms of the new guidance, waste is divided into three categories:
Mixed dry recycling
- Glass – empty bottles and food jars (rinsed)
- Paper and cardboard – newspapers, envelopes, packaging
- Plastic – empty food containers and bottles (rinsed)
- Metal – drinks cans, empty food tins (rinsed), empty aerosols, aluminium foil, empty aluminium food trays (rinsed)
Food waste (to energy-from waste, or composting)
- Food leftovers –including sandwiches, crisps, biscuits
- Food preparation waste – from a canteen, kitchen or any other kind of food preparation
Black bin waste (to landfill)
- Anything left after waste from the other two categories has been removed – including highly contaminated materials such as food packaging which cannot be washed
Food waste is kept separate from dry recycling, to avoid contaminating the recyclable waste and making it unrecyclable.
Rubbish at rubbish?
By definition, waste is stuff you produce but don’t want. And when you’re busy manufacturing stuff people actually do want, then waste is something you don’t want to waste time thinking about.
So now you have to worry about which bin for which rubbish, perhaps it’s time to call in the experts.
ERIKS can arrange a Waste Walk of your site by Bunzl Cleaning and Hygiene Supplies (BCHS) – specialists in cleaning and hygiene supplies – to assess the types of waste you generate, and propose the solutions you need to comply with the new recycling guidance. And this specialist survey isn’t just about how to throw stuff away.
An expert Waste Walk will also help you to spot the kind of things that get overlooked or left ‘until later’. Things like overflowing bins – which means your waste collecting capacity isn’t correctly aligned to the amount of waste generated. Or broken bins – which may create mess rather than prevent it, could discourage people from using them, or may even attract vermin.
Food for thought
If your business has more than 10 full-time employees, then the new waste management legislation applies to you. And even if you think you don’t produce food waste – because you don’t have a staff canteen – the chances are that you do.
A biscuit with your morning coffee? A sandwich at your desk? An apple in the afternoon? Then where did the apple core go? And those bits of bread crust you didn’t eat? Or maybe the left-over cake from someone’s birthday celebration?
Multiply those items by the number of people you work with, and suddenly you have a food waste problem to get your teeth into. Time to give ERIKS first bite at helping you solve it.
Walking the Waste Walk
A survey of on-site waste management and recycling facilities is the essential starting point for successful compliance with the new legislation. Naturally ERIKS undertook a Waste Walk at its European Centre of Expertise in Dudley.
This identified a number of issues, including insufficient waste segregation and lack of signage.
Following on from the survey, recommendations to be adopted include:
- Replacement of deskside bins with recycling stations
- Separate food, mixed recycling and general waste bins in kitchen
- General waste bin and dry mixed recycling bin in workshops
- Bespoke bin labelling for clear identification
*Wales has had similar legislation in place since 2024, and Scotland since 2012
For more information, contact your local ERIKS Service Centre, who will be happy to discuss your options.
#ERIKS #LetsMakeIndustryWorkBetter #Legislation #WasteManagement #Recycling #FoodWaste #Sustainability
Author
