Help & FAQ

Simpler Recycling is UK legislation effective from 31 March 2025 requiring all workplaces in England to separate recyclable waste. It standardises recycling across businesses to improve recycling rates and reduce contamination. The law is part of the Environment Act 2021.

The law takes effect on 31 March 2025 for most businesses. Micro-firms (fewer than 10 full-time equivalent employees) have until 31 March 2027 to comply.

All workplaces in England must comply, including offices, retail premises, warehouses, factories, and other commercial properties. This applies to both owners and occupiers of non-domestic premises.

A micro-firm is a business with fewer than 10 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees. Micro-firms have an extended deadline of 31 March 2027 to comply with Simpler Recycling requirements. Part-time employees count as fractions of FTE.

Local authorities can issue fixed penalty notices or prosecute businesses that fail to comply. Penalties can include fines and enforcement action from the Environment Agency. Maintaining proper documentation (duty of care records) is essential to demonstrate compliance during inspections.

Under Simpler Recycling, businesses must separate waste into three streams: 1) Dry Recyclables (plastic, metal, glass, paper and card combined), 2) Food Waste (all food waste regardless of quantity), and 3) Residual Waste (non-recyclable general waste that cannot go in other streams).

Dry Recyclables includes: plastic bottles and containers, metal cans and tins, glass bottles and jars, paper, cardboard, and cartons. These can all be collected together in one bin. Items should be empty and rinsed where practical.

Yes. Under Simpler Recycling, all food waste must be collected separately regardless of quantity. This includes food preparation waste, plate scrapings, and out-of-date food. There is no minimum threshold.

Garden waste is an optional fourth stream. If your business produces garden waste (landscaping companies, garden centres, etc.), it should be collected separately, but this is not mandatory under Simpler Recycling for most workplaces.

A Waste Transfer Note is a legal document that records the transfer of waste from your business to an authorised waste carrier. It's your proof that waste was disposed of legally and is a key part of your duty of care obligations. WTNs must be kept for at least 2 years.

A Season Ticket is an annual Waste Transfer Note that covers regular, repeated waste collections over 12 months. Instead of getting a new WTN for every collection, a single Season Ticket covers all collections of the same waste type for a year. This is common for businesses with scheduled waste collections.

You must keep WTNs for a minimum of 2 years from the date of the waste transfer. We recommend keeping them longer (at least 3-5 years) as evidence of ongoing compliance. Digital storage is acceptable and often preferred.

You can verify your waste carrier's registration on the Environment Agency's Public Register. Search by company name or registration number (starts with CBD or CBDu). Only use registered carriers - using an unregistered carrier is a criminal offence.

Simple Recycling Audit is a compliance tracking tool for UK businesses. It helps you document waste streams, store WTNs digitally, log contamination incidents, and generate audit-ready compliance reports for Environment Agency inspections.

The platform provides: digital WTN storage with version history, daily compliance tracking across all waste streams, Season Ticket management with expiry reminders, contamination incident logging, and professional compliance reports with waste hierarchy declarations.

We offer simple, transparent pricing starting from £15/month for micro-firms. All plans include a 30-day free trial - no charge until your trial ends. View pricing →

Yes. We use Supabase for secure data storage with row-level security. Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest. You can export all your data at any time and delete your account if needed (GDPR compliant).