New regulations begin on 31 March 2025
From 31 March 2025 regulations are changing for workplace recycling in England. All workplaces with more than 10 full time employees will have a legal duty to separate their waste for disposal.
Waste will need to be separated into different streams:
- Dry mixed recycling
- Food waste
- General waste (non-recyclable waste)
If these new regulations are not complied with businesses are at risk of receiving a compliance notice from the Environment Agency.
Legal responsibility for businesses
If you run a business, you have a legal responsibility for the safe disposal of your business waste. The two main waste and recycling laws which affect businesses are:
- The Environmental Protection Act 1990 Section 34
- The Landfill Regulations
The Environmental Protection Act 1990 sets out your duty of care with regard to disposal of your waste. This duty of care applies to any business which produces, imports, keeps/stores, transports, treats or disposes of waste. The safest way to achieve this is by using a registered waste carrier.
Businesses must ensure that their commercial waste is:
- removed by a registered carrier of waste. It is the responsibility of a business to check that the person removing their waste is licensed. This could be a private company or NHDC who offer a commercial collection service as the Waste Collection Authority (WCA). Businesses who employ unlicensed waste carriers to dispose of their waste are committing an offence. Unlicensed waste carriers can be responsible for fly-tipping (e.g. dumping waste) which can pose dangers to public health, wildlife and the environment.
- described fully and accurately on a document called a Waste Transfer Note (WTN) providing details of the waste. The purpose of this is to ensure that anybody who comes into contact with it knows what the waste is and whether it is safe to handle. The WTN must be signed by both the producer and the carrier and copies are required to be kept by both parties for a minimum of two years. The Council can serve a legal Notice to the business requiring them to provide copies of the WTN for a specific period. If you do not dispose of your waste legally you could face fixed penalty fines of up to £300 or fines of up to £5000 if you are prosecuted in a magistrate’s court. Unlimited fines can be imposed if the case goes to Crown Court.
- kept safe. If waste includes substances that may be hazardous, for example chemicals or drugs, the person who removes the waste must be informed of any potential risks and be qualified to remove it.
For more information on duty of care responsibilities, visit Right Waste Right Place.
You may not take your business waste home, put it in street litter bins or dispose of your recycling in public recycling banks. These are illegal disposal routes.
Our services
Commercial waste collection service
We operate a commercial waste collection service through our waste service contractor. This service is available to all large or small companies for the disposal of their commercial waste on a contractual basis.
We provide bins, boxes or sacks as containers for your waste which can be collected fortnightly, weekly or more than once a week.
As part of our service for businesses we offer the following sized bins:
| Bin size | Height | Width | Depth |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1100lt | 1325-1380 mm | 1270-1370 mm | 1000-1077 mm |
| 660lt | 1160-1320 mm | 1265-1370 mm | 740-799 mm |
| 360lt | 1095 mm | 850 mm | 850 mm |
| 240lt | 1066 mm | 582 mm | 724 mm |
| 140lt | 1049 mm | 482 mm | 563 mm |
| Box – 55lt | 350 mm | 585 mm | 390 mm |
| Caddy – 23lt | 390 mm | 290 mm | 340 mm |
- Bins with blue lids: dry mixed recycling
- Bins with brown lids: food waste
- Bins with purple lids: non-recyclable waste
This service is not available for the removal of hazardous or toxic waste (including asbestos). For information regarding the disposal of these materials please contact WasteAware on 0300 123 4051.
Trade food waste collection service
We can provide a weekly food waste collection service for your business using either a bin or a caddy to store the waste ready for collection.
In your caddy or bin you can dispose of:
- all leftovers, including pet food and plate scrapings
- dairy, cheese and eggs (including shells)
- bread and pastries
- pasta and rice
- meat, bones and carcasses
- tea bags and coffee grounds
- fruit and vegetable peelings
- fish bones and carcasses
The food waste can be put direct into the caddy or bin or can be put into a compostable bin liner that has the seedling logo on it.
On collection day just leave your caddy or bin out ready to be emptied. Please make sure it is not overfilled, making it too heavy to move and empty safely.
Food waste is taken to an anaerobic digestor to be processed to produce biogas. This is captured and fed into gas engines to generate renewable electricity for the grid. A liquid by-product is used by farmers locally on the fields for future crops.
Request a quote
For information on prices for our trade waste and food waste collection services, please email us at commercial.waste@north-herts.gov.uk.
Report a missed trade waste collection
You should only report a missed bin if:
- your bin was put out on the correct collection day. This collection day(s) should have been given to you when setting up the contract. The only exception to these days is where there are bank holidays where the collection day will be a day later, or up to two days later during the Christmas period.
- you are reporting within 48 hours (two working days) of a missed collection.
- your bin was out before 6.30am on the day of collection
- your bin was on the boundary of your property or agreed collection point that is accessible and not blocked by cars or walls
If you still believe your bin has been missed, please contact customer services on 01462 474000.
For any other enquiries relating to trade waste such as cancellations, additional collections etc, please contact commercial.waste@north-herts.gov.uk.
Office poster
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