Claire Shrewsbury, Director of Insights and Innovation at WRAP,
Today’s policy update from Government on Simpler Recycling brings welcome clarity for key stakeholders involved in waste and recycling services in England. WRAP has worked with Government to provide evidence, modelling and policy recommendations towards these important improvements, which will have significant benefits for the environment, businesses and society. Without a radical overhaul to how the UK deals with its waste and recycling, we stand no chance of achieving net zero targets or building a circular economy fit for the future.
In particular, we welcome the focus on allowing Councils choice on frequency of residual collections. Councils are best placed to determine these local decisions which can maximise financial savings and increase recycling participation and capture rates of valuable resources. Crucially, we believe any restrictions in residual waste frequency must be introduced alongside enhancements to services such as weekly food waste collections and policies to address the management of nappies and absorbent hygiene products. WRAP is working with Defra and Local Authorities on Non-Statutory Guidance for good service standards across a comprehensive range of waste and recycling services.
Keeping paper and card separate from glass and other containers will help increase the national recycling rate, reduce contamination, and enable further GHG savings. Importantly, this minimum of two-stream approach will mean more materials can be recycled in the UK with the combined benefit of reducing the processing costs charged to Councils, and increasing jobs in collection and processing. WRAP is supporting Defra in providing a new standardised robust tool to help all Local Authorities quickly deliver the legal requirement to undertake the complex Written Assessment (TEEP) in line with the new exemption position.
A hugely important step is the incoming requirements on business recycling, including exemptions for micro sized businesses. There are enormous environmental and financial gains to be realised by encouraging the 2.2 million businesses in England to separate food and recyclables from refuse. The two-year delay for micro sized businesses will give smaller businesses more time to implement recycling into smaller or shared premises.
WRAP is working with Defra and industry to develop new support tools and guidance to help all businesses with the transition. Our Business of Recycling | WRAP is a simple to use and free resource anyone can use to help understand and act on the incoming changes. We will continue to work with trade bodies and local authorities to make transition as seamless as possible through our tools, technical support, and resources.