REGULATIONS & COMPLIANCE
Waste regulation is changing quickly, and understanding what applies to your business can be difficult. New Leaf Resource Recovery (NLRR) provides clear, practical guidance to help organisations understand their responsibilities and turn compliance requirements into workable action.
SIMPLER RECYCLING
What businesses need to know
Simpler Recycling requires workplaces in England to separate key waste streams before collection. The rules came into force on 31 March 2025, with micro firms employing fewer than 10 full-time employees having until 31 march 2027 to comply.
Workplaces must separate recyclable materials - including plastic, metal, glass, paper and card - as well as food waste and residual waste. The requirements also apply to waste produced by employees, customers and visitors
Digital Waste Tracking (DWT)
What businesses need to know
Digital Waste Tracking is a new mandatory system for recording waste movements digitally. It is being introduced to replace outdated recording processes and give regulators and businesses better visibility of how waste moves through the system.
The service is intended to help close information gaps, improve waste management and support action against waste crime. The current implementation timetable places the digital waste tracking service from April 2026.
Businesses should start reviewing how waste information is currently captured, who is responsible for it, and whether existing records are complete and consistent. Even where the first operational requirements fall on waste carriers or receivers, producers will still need accurate information about their waste to flow through the new system.
Despite the name, Digital Waste Tracking is not about electronic waste — it is about creating a digital record of waste movements.
Duty of Care
What businesses need to know
Duty of Care applies to anyone who produces, carries, keeps, treats, disposes of, brokers or deals in controlled waste. For most businesses, the key point is simple: if your activities produce waste, you have responsibilities for how that waste is managed.
Businesses must take reasonable steps to prevent unauthorised or harmful handling of waste, stop waste escaping from their control, make sure anyone they transfer waste to is correctly authorised, and provide an accurate description of the waste being transferred.
This means checking who takes your waste, understanding where it is going, keeping accurate records and making sure your waste arrangements are compliant in practice — not just on paper.
Waste Hierarchy
What businesses need to know
The waste hierarchy ranks waste-management options according to what is best for the environment. It gives highest priority to preventing waste in the first place, followed by preparing items for re-use, recycling, other recovery and, as a last resort, disposal.
For businesses, this means looking beyond simply arranging collections. The aim should be to reduce waste at source, keep materials in use for longer, and recover as much value as possible before disposal is considered.