A major report, unveiled today (Sunday 21 October), reveals that the vast majority of businesses are unaware and
unprepared for new waste legislation, which comes into force at the end of this month in England and Wales and do not
realise that it could lead to rising disposal costs.
“Recycling in UK plc – a State of the Workplace Report”, conducted by YouGov and commissioned by Taylor
Intelligence, which provides insights into recycling trends, reveals that only 17% of senior directors at SMEs and less
than half (45%) of managers with environmental, facilities or office responsibilities within larger organisations were
aware of the Producer Pre-Treatment Requirement of the European Union Landfill Directive, which comes into force on
30 October in England and Wales.
Under the Requirement, which has already come into force in Scotland, businesses of any size will no longer be able to
send non-hazardous waste to landfill without prior treatment.
One form of treatment will involve the segregation of waste streams, including recyclable material. Segregation can be
done in one of two ways. Either recyclable business waste that would otherwise be mixed in the workplace can be
separately collected for recycling, or the waste generated can be collected mixed by a waste contractor and taken to a
sorting facility for a proportion of it to be removed for recycling. Other acceptable forms of treatment include
incineration at an approved facility, and chemical treatments.
The Pre-Treatment Requirement is intended both to reduce the amount of non-hazardous waste going to landfill and to
reduce the impact of waste when it is landfilled. It will spell the end of the traditional ‘mixed bins of waste’ that are
found in most businesses.
The legal obligation to ensure appropriate pre-treatment of the waste rests with the business producing it. Businesses
that don’t comply will be breaking the law and risk action from the Environment Agency.
The research revealed that 80% of SME directors were not aware that if they don’t recycle they will have to pay their
waste contractor to do the segregation for them leading to higher disposal costs. Of those who were aware of the
Requirement, only 4% had a very thorough understanding of their obligations under the legislation and 44% had a very
limited or limited understanding. Only 37% of those SMEs who were aware, were very prepared or prepared for the
legislation.
Managers within larger organisations were more aware of the Requirement (45% of all respondents), but more than half
(55%) were not aware that if they do not recycle, they will have to pay a contractor to do the segregation for them.
Respondents from the larger organisations also had a better understanding of their legal obligations with nearly a third
(32%) of all of those who were aware of the Requirement, saying they had a thorough or very thorough understanding.
The majority of respondents showed a positive response to the forthcoming legislation. 36% of SMEs, who were
unaware of the Requirement, showed a significant level of concern that they did not know about it and nearly a quarter
(22%) said they would actively seek more information. Moreover 14% of those unaware of the legislation, said they
were going to encourage segregated recycling within the business. In addition, 33% of SMEs, who were aware of the
Requirement, are actively encouraging segregated recycling within their business to meet the legislative obligations and
another 36% are already segregating their recyclable non-hazardous waste or employing a contractor to undertake the
segregation.
Of those corporate respondents previously unaware of the Requirement, 47% said they were either concerned or very
concerned about it and 35% will actively seek more information about it. 20% also said they would now actively
encourage segregated recycling within their business. Of those larger organisations who were aware of the
Requirement, 36% said they were encouraging segregated recycling in the workplace and 38% said they were already
undertaking segregated recycling or paying a contractor to do it for them. 10% indicated that a waste contractor will
collect the mixed bin of waste.
Commenting on the research, Peter Selkirk, Chief Executive of Taylor, said: “This research suggests that businesses are
in for a shock come the end of October.
“According to the research, companies of all sizes, particularly SMEs, will need to be prepared or risk adding costs to
their bottom lines.
“To meet the waste pre-treatment requirements cost efficiently, the onus will be on companies to implement recycling
schemes and segregate their own waste streams. If they don’t, the waste contractor will have to do it, which is expected
at least to double the costs. And if the waste contractor doesn’t do it, the company in question is likely to be heavily
penalised financially, although penalties have yet to be decided.
He added: “Getting people to recycle is the Government’s biggest waste management issue and
achieving participation means making the first ten feet work - that is encouraging employees to take
waste to a container in the first place and putting the waste into the correct segregated container.
Education is, and will be, vital. Companies will need to ensure that senior management are fully
aware of the waste and recycling requirements and any shortfall in meeting them. All staff will also
need to be made aware of their waste related obligations.”
The need to address recycling participation in the workplace was reinforced by the report’s
findings. 70% of SMEs had introduced none of a number of measures to boost recycling which
were listed in the study, including setting recycling targets, introducing staff education on recycling,
awarding prizes for the best recycling department or floor, appointing a recycling/environmental
manager or a manager with responsibility for recycling or showing recycling performance as a KPI
in monthly management reports or on notice boards. However, the larger organisations were much
more proactive in introducing measures to encourage recycling.
Other findings of the study included:
A copy of the full report is available in PDF format.