All workplaces in England have a legal duty to separate recycling waste following the Government’s ‘Simpler Recycling’ guidance. It states, “Businesses and non-domestic premises have a legal duty to take all reasonable steps to apply the waste hierarchy and the duty of care in line with Simpler Recycling”.
The government’s simpler recycling plans are designed to improve the recycling rates of UK businesses following the waste hierarchy. Businesses and non-domestic organisations should already be compliant with Simpler Recycling from 31 March 2025. Although micro-firms are exempt at the time of writing, this is only temporary until 31 March 2027, and it’s never too early to implement more efficient waste disposal and management measures.
This article serves as a waste hierarchy guide, outlining how the waste hierarchy can be used to improve internal business processes and recycling waste management. Effective recycling will look different for every business, so we’ll also apply the waste hierarchy to some key industries.
What is the waste hierarchy?
First introduced in 1975, the waste hierarchy began as a list of principles. It was then in 1993 that an amended version of the waste hierarchy was adopted by the Dutch government, featuring the most desirable option at the top of an inverted pyramid. The European Commission would incorporate the waste hierarchy into the revised version of The Waste Framework Directive in 2008.
The five steps in the waste hierarchy describe the actions that companies must prioritise when managing commercial waste. The intention is to create more sustainable waste management plans for businesses by helping owners implement strategies prioritised by their environmental impact. These steps, in priority order, include:
- Prevent – Can a certain type of waste be avoided altogether?
- Reuse – Can resources and materials be used across multiple areas of the business?
- Recycle – Can business waste be recycled?
- Recover – Can the energy or materials used for a business’s products and services be recovered?
- Dispose – Although unsustainable, it is still necessary to make a disposal plan for waste that cannot be recycled, reused, or recovered.
In most cases, measures to prevent and reduce waste production are the most difficult to implement successfully. However, businesses seeking to be sustainable should focus on these areas as reducing waste is typically accompanied by reductions in energy use, labour costs, and greenhouse gas emissions.
Similarly, recycling options will vary depending on the type of business waste produced. For example, an office workplace will likely require mainly dry mixed recycling or measures for packaging materials like cardboard recycling.
Using hierarchy in business waste management
The idea of the waste hierarchy makes sense in practice, but does it actually translate to real-world businesses? Let’s examine how a waste management strategy might manifest with waste hierarchy principles at its core.
Prevent waste
Businesses should take steps to reduce the amount of waste they produce, both through operations and general running. It’s recommended to first target products containing critical raw materials to stop these materials from becoming waste.
For businesses involved in the production and manufacture of products or components, this means minimising material use at the design stage as well. You can also adapt existing processes to create products that are more resource-efficient, reusable, and durable.
Prepare for reuse
Your business’s products and key internal processes should be designed to allow for the reuse of resources where possible. This includes packaging materials and promotional resources, which can also be made from recyclable materials. Similarly, product designs should emphasise lifespan and ease of repair to support regular reuse. Circular economic practices such as this allow businesses to save on costs while limiting the amount of waste that enters landfills.
It’s possible to reuse equipment for a different purpose after it’s no longer required, or after refurbishment. Technical and manufacturing operations can typically find other uses for materials and tools to help minimise waste across different processes.
Recycling options
Where products can’t be reused, incorporating recyclable materials into the manufacturing process will be the next best option. Here, businesses have the opportunity to recoup some of their waste disposal costs as well as help meet sustainability goals.
Products that contain both recyclable and non-recyclable materials, or many different kinds of recyclable materials, must first be dismantled before they can be sorted for collection. Check with your chosen waste collector how they collect recyclable materials and adjust your infrastructure accordingly.
Recover potential waste
If reuse or recycling aren’t available options, businesses can recover energy or materials from waste. This is possible through various processes, such as incineration, gasification, and anaerobic digestion.
At the recovery stage of the hierarchy, we accept that most of the resources in question are lost from circulation. However, resources can still be salvaged by sending them to Energy from Waste (EfW) facilities, where they generate energy by using waste as fuel.
For example, Yorwaste works with Allerton Waste Recovery Park to transport general waste collected to their facility for generating energy. The waste collected is enough to power 40,000 homes in Harrogate. By choosing waste providers who take waste to EfW facilities, businesses can save non-recyclable waste from its least desirable solution.
Waste disposal
Waste hierarchy guidance states that businesses must dispose of waste safely and in ways that meet the provisions laid out in Article 13 of the Waste Framework Directive legislation, regarding the protection of human health and the environment. This means waste disposal must be carried out:
- Without risk to the surrounding environment or animals.
- Without causing disruptive noise or odours.
- Without affecting places of special interest or the countryside.
Although less desirable, landfills can still offer a safe and controlled method of disposal for wastes that cannot be treated otherwise. Disposal of waste to a landfill is the last resort when other options such as the prevention, reuse, recycle, or recovery are not practical or appropriate.
Does the waste hierarchy affect my business?
Official guidance on applying the waste hierarchy applies to ‘any business or public body which generates, handles, or treats waste’. Nevertheless, there are certain kinds of businesses which stand to benefit more from adopting the waste hierarchy than others.
- Office Waste – Waste generated from office buildings typically consists of paper, cardboard, electrical devices, food, and packaging waste. One way this can be minimised is by introducing more cloud-based infrastructure. Otherwise, a waste management strategy would need to place recycling stations throughout the building.
- Retail Waste – Regardless of the items you sell, retail businesses need effective waste management in line with their stock or inventory management. As shops become more popular and expand their premises, this needs to be met with more comprehensive waste management.
- Restaurant Waste – Cleanliness is important in the restaurant and hospitality sector. Waste not only creates an unpleasant atmosphere for patrons, but it can also lead to spiralling costs. Reusing strategies are important here, as it’s very difficult to prevent waste in its entirety due to fluctuations in demand.
- Hotel Waste – Hotels create a huge amount of waste every week, from single-use toiletries to damaged items to cleaning products and food waste. There were 9,830 hotels operating in the UK in 2024 alone. Waste management strategies for hotels must be scaled according to the number and size of rooms.
- Manufacturing Waste – Incorrect disposal of manufacturing waste can leave businesses liable to fines, as outlined in the Environmental Protection Act 1990. These businesses are also more likely to produce various forms of hazardous waste, such as corrosive chemicals. Reducing potentially harmful waste like this is essential, as it cannot typically be as easily reused or recycled.
Professional waste management support for your business
Waste can significantly impact your business’s bottom line due to rising demand for materials driving up prices. Adopting the waste hierarchy is an effective strategy for businesses to reduce the amount of materials that enter landfills and costs while protecting the local environment.
Experienced waste management companies like Yorwaste are useful for helping your business meet sustainability goals and align with the waste hierarchy. We’ll also help you comply with UK waste management regulations, including Simpler Recycling.
We can conduct a full waste audit of your business to determine which kinds of waste are produced by its operations and where. Get a free quote today.
