On 18th September 2024, we held our Environment and Health & Safety Legal Update webinar. We reviewed the key changes in legislation from the past six months and looked at what’s on the horizon. The session ended with a live Q&A.
The key topics covered in the webinar include changes in requirements for:
Finally, we finished with a live Q&A. The answers to all questions asked are below.
Download the slides here.
During the webinar, we gathered your questions and have answered them below. If you’d like to know more about our Consultancy Service or the Legislation Update Service, please contact us.
As mentioned in the webinar we have an article explaining the changes to waste separation and collection requirements which you can read here. The article links directly to key information in legislation, including:
It’s important to highlight that the new rules are primarily intended for waste authorities and waste collectors to implement to ensure compliance. As such, most organisations can expect their waste collector(s) to provide guidance, and any equipment needed to comply with the new rules.
Similar questions grouped.
Q: Could do with some clarity on what businesses/industries need to comply with new waste separation rules please.
Q: Can you provide some more clarity on what is meant by non-dwellings? Would this apply to building sites, depots etc.?
The new rules from the 31st March 2025 will apply to all business premises, as well as relevant non-domestic premises (residential homes, universities and schools, hospitals and nursing homes, places of worship, penal institutions, charity shops selling goods donated from domestic premises, hostels and premises used solely or mainly for meetings).
Q: Do the new waste regulations apply to student accommodation at universities?
Premises that form part of a university are classed as relevant non-domestic premises, as such the new rules would apply to them from 31st March 2025. For accommodation premises that are separate the rules may not apply, however waste collectors may still require the separation of waste streams.
Q: So offices seem to be covered – does this apply where offices are embedded within a wider industrial / commercial site? – such as distribution and logistics?
If the overall premises are classed together as commercial or industrial then the same waste collection rules will apply for the whole of the premises, regardless of whether some areas are used for other purposes.
The new rules from the 31st March 2025 will apply to all business premises, as well as relevant non-domestic premises (residential homes, universities and schools, hospitals and nursing homes, places of worship, penal institutions, charity shops selling goods donated from domestic premises, hostels and premises used solely or mainly for meetings).
Premises that form part of a university are classed as relevant non-domestic premises, as such the new rules would apply to them from 31st March 2025. For accommodation premises that are separate the rules may not apply, however waste collectors may still require the separation of waste streams.
If the overall premises are classed together as commercial or industrial then the same waste collection rules will apply for the whole of the premises, regardless of whether some areas are used for other purposes.
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Q: We collect food waste part of general waste. Do we need to separate specific to food waste only?
Q: At our site we already have 2 collections in place i.e. general waste & mixed recycling, we don’t generate any green waste but does this new legislation mean that it will be mandatory from 31st March 2025 for us to implement a food waste collection? We only have 10 members staff on site and generate very little food waste.
Q: How do we manage this small levels of food waste, at present it goes into general waste bins?
Q: If people are eating in offices and throw their food waste in the general waste bin, this is not separated. Is that still compliant?
Q: If you produce a small amount of food waste, can you compost this rather than having it collected by a waste collector?
Q: Will we still have to provide food waste collections in the buildings that don’t have cafes/food prep areas?
Q: For the waste separation, food waste specifically are there any thresholds, or is blanket applied?
Q: Are we required to have food waste internal bins in kitchen offices?
All food waste, even if only in small quantities, should always be collected separately from general waste under the new rules. If any food waste is produced on the premises then there should be appropriate receptacles provided.
Where appropriate, small volumes of food waste can be composted under a T23 waste exemption: aerobic composting and associated prior treatment, rather than being disposed of.
Remember! The requirement for separate collection of garden waste only applies to domestic properties.
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Q: Are these new waste separation rules applicable to construction waste also? Or better from waste from construction compounds?
The new rules are covering the collection of recyclable waste as defined in The Separation of Waste (England) Regulations 2024 rather than ‘construction waste’. However, there will invariably be some waste produced through construction activities that are classed as recyclable waste, for example, most waste paper and card is considered as recyclable
Q: We use multiple waste brokers on construction sites. Must we have separate bins on site?
Your waste collector(s) will determine the requirements and advise you on how to separate waste to be compliant.
Q: If we already recycle and have dedicated waste collections for wood, metal and general waste are we compliant under new guidelines?
Probably not, it would be expected you would also have waste that falls under the category of relevant household waste similar to household waste that must be collected separately under the new rules. We’d recommend reviewing the waste streams defined under The Separation of Waste (England) Regulations 2024 and identifying which apply, as these will require separation.
Q: What is left then under ‘general household waste’?
Any waste that does not fall under the 6 recyclable waste streams of glass, metal, plastic, paper and card, food waste or garden waste. This could include items which are made of mixed materials that cannot be separated.
Q: Does this legislation specifically apply only to mixed dry recycling metals, such as drink cans and tin containers? Are we required to separately collect all scrap metal, including those that are not classified as dry recycling (e.g., larger pieces of metal in construction waste)?
The rules only apply to industrial and commercial waste which is similar in nature and composition to household waste as defined in The Separation of Waste (England) Regulations 2024.
Recyclable waste that does not fall under the 6 defined household or relevant recyclable waste streams should be collected separately for recycling.
Q: In areas where the glass waste stream isn’t generated, do we have to have glass collection?
The rules only apply where relevant recyclable waste is produced, if it’s not produced it cannot be collected.
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Q: What if there are space constraints in designating a location for the new storage receptacles for the additional waste streams?
Q: Will we require a separate bin for each type of recycling? That’s potentially a lot of bins for small offices
The new rules do not necessarily require organisations to start adding lots of additional bins and other receptacles within premises, your waste collector may still collect multiple waste streams together.
Where there is a need for separate collections, this could be facilitated through smaller receptacles within the premises rather than full-sized bins, or using a bin which has separate compartments for the different waste streams.
It’s already common to see workplaces use triple waste bins, where each bin has a separate compartment for general waste, mixed recyclables and food waste. Such a solution may be a good option, depending on the collection rules implemented in your area.
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Q: How do you define what is feasible for separation of the recyclables?
Q: Under what circumstances does the waste not have to be separated into the 6 (7 including general waste) different waste streams? What kind of scenarios would it be considered as “impractical” to separate waste as such?
The law is written specifically around collection of waste, as such this decision would be made by the waste authority for your area and the waste collector(s) used as to whether they require separation at source, or permit collections of mixed recyclables that can be separated post-collection.
Q: We recently moved to a twin bin system for its operational estate, 1 bin for food only and 1 for ‘Resource Recovery’. The idea was to remove the concept of general waste. Is this compliant?
It would depend on what waste streams are being put in the ‘resource recovery’ bins and whether your waste collector requires these to be separated at source or they will separate post-collection. Under the new rules ‘general waste’ which does not fall into the 6 recyclable waste streams must be separated, so if you do produce any general waste then this will still need to be separated at source.
Q: We have a premises that doesn’t fall under the new collection rules, but our waste company has said they will require us to separate waste. What should we do?
If you waste collector is obliged to collect these separately then there are a couple of options, you can either start separating waste or alternatively look at different waste collection services that support the collection of non-separated waste. It may be more economically viable to separate waste at your premises than arrange separate collections once the new rules apply.
Q: Do we know how it’s going to be handled/expectations for cross border collection between Wales and England with the different requirements for separation in the workplace?
This will depend on the waste authority and collector, they will decide how collections will work to remain compliant. There is a degree of flexibility in the new rules for England applying from next year, which would allow collections to align with the rules which were introduced in Wales earlier this year. We’d expect waste collections which cover both Wales and England to have a consistent approach which meets the requirements of both jurisdictions, for example paper and card always being separated from other recyclables and general waste, as that’s a requirement in Wales.
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Q: We manufacture products for sale in the UK and EU, can we just use CE marking for all products?
Yes, you can. Post-Brexit Great Britain and Northen Ireland made changes to recognised product conformity assessment and marking, with a plan to remove the recognition of CE marking in Great Britain. In 2023 the Government announced that the whole of the UK will accept CE marking indefinitely.
Note: Products which require a conformity assessment by a 3rd party must be completed by an EU-based conformity assessment body to allow CE marking to be used.
Q: Does CPTPP regulations mean that UKCA will not be required if CE marking is already in place?
Q: CPTPP Does this mean we accept their standards over our own?
The CPTPP Regulations have no impact on the recognition of CE marking.
Once the UK’s membership is ratified, conformity assessment bodies (CABs) based in CPTPP member countries can be approved by UKAS (UK Accreditation Service) to approve products to the same standards as CABs based in the UK.
Regardless of where a CAB is located, the same standards would apply for conformity assessment.
Q: For UKCA, I believe that will still be required for products covered by the Construction Products Regs?
Under The Construction Products Regulations 2013, the requirement for UK marking does not apply where products already have CE marking. Unlike other product-specific legislation these Regulations were never updated to set a deadline for the recognition of CE marking.
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Q: Are data centres classified as EII?
Data centres are not classified as EII. The electricity support payments are only available to organisations operating in energy intensive industries (EII) and which perform specified energy intensive activities. The list of relevant activities can be found here.
Q: Where can check for the eligibility for EII? Would renewable energy plants be eligible?
The energy intensive activities for which electricity support payments can be claimed by organisations holding an EII certificate, are listed in the Schedule to The Electricity Supplier Obligations (Amendment & Excluded Electricity) Regulations 2015. The activities mainly relate to the production of physical goods which involve significant energy consumption rather than the production of energy.
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Q: Are there plans for the UK to mandate sustainability reporting like the EU has?
Q: If we already comply and report to both ESOS and SECR, how does the sustainability reporting affect us?
The UK is planning to mandate sustainability reporting. The Government is currently looking to create the UK Sustainability Reporting Standards (UK SRS), which will result from the endorsement of 2 existing international standards published by the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation (IFRS):
A summary of IFRS disclosure requirements is available on LUS here.
A decision on the endorsement is expected in Q2 of 2025. The next steps in the implementation plan are detailed in the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements: Implementation Update 2024 document, which can be found on the Government website.
If, as planned, the IFRS standards are used and reporting applies to your organisation, then this will likely extend the information that must be reported beyond the specifics required under ESOS and SECR
Q: Would/when will sustainability reporting apply to charities?
The Government’s guidance on sustainability reporting requirements advises that these are aimed at UK-listed companies. It is not expected that the requirements will apply to charities, but this may change in the future.
Q: I believe that deadline has been extended to March 2025 for the ESOS action plan submission
Q: ESOS sent out a newsletter stating that the deadline for the action plans has been extended to 5 March 2025.
Whilst the original, official deadline for submitting an action plan as part of phase 3 of ESOS remains 5th December 2024, action plans will continue to be accepted up to 5th March 2025.
Q: I have seen on Energy Hub they are reporting ESOS phase 4 & 5 which relates to the aligning of ESOS and GHG reporting. Is this true?
Phase 4 of ESOS will differ to phase 3 as it will have a focus on NetZero amongst other changes. Organisations will have to explore their commitments to NetZero and include an assessment of actions needed to meet them.
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Q: I have a client that manufactures tyres, when do the new requirements under EURO 7 apply?
The new requirements will apply from:
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Q: Do the specific consents required include current on-site laundry facilities in Welsh Hospitals or just for new builds?
Changes to consent for infrastructure projects in Wales only applies to specific types of `significant infrastructure projects`. The project types covered by the new consenting process are listed in the Infrastructure (Wales) Act 2024 entry on LUS (hospitals are not in scope).
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Q: Is it true waste transfer notes or waste carrier licenses are being replaced? I’ve heard this but can’t find anything online about it.
Q:Has the electronic WTN’s supposed to be April 2025 been shelved by the Labour government now?
Under a previous Government, a digital / electronic waste tracking system was announced for implementation in April 2025. You can find out more about it in this policy paper. There has been no announcement and update on the planned implementation of electronic waste transfer notes by the current Government.
There is also going to be an overhaul of the waste carrier / broker / dealer licences which will be replaced by waste controllers, transporters, and controller – transporters. Although this change has been announced, there is currently no timeline in place for implementation. You can find out more here.
Q: To clarify is the deposit return scheme expected to start in England as well as Scotland in October 2027?
Yes, the deposit return scheme will come into effect for the whole of the UK in October 2027. The Scottish scheme will be amended to bring it into line with everyone else. It will apply to drinks containers made of plastic, steel and aluminium.
Glass is not included in the scheme for England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, however there are plans to include it in Wales.
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Q: We’re a UK manufacturer, what do we need to do to comply with CBAM?
At the moment, CBAM is only in force in the EU. The UK Government is planning to introduce UK CBAM from 1st January 2027.
As a UK manufacturer, you have no direct duties under CBAM. However, if you operate in certain industries (cement, fertilisers, iron and steel, aluminium, and electricity) and exporting into the EU, your importer might request certain information from you, to help them comply with their reporting obligations under EU CBAM.
Q: If you produce a finished good that contains a small percentage of one of the covered goods under CBAM. Do you still have to report on the data?
Goods containing a precursor covered by CBAM are classed as “complex goods”. You will need to include the embedded emissions of relevant precursors if used in the production process for any reporting purposes.
Relevant precursor materials refer to those raw materials used in the production of complex CBAM goods that are CBAM goods themselves.
Note: If a precursor stems from EU production, the carbon price already paid in the EU may also be reflected in the CBAM report.
Q: Can you use default figures if you export a complex CBAM good into the EU.
Q: If the finished good containing a proportion of cement (CBAM). Can default figures still be used for reporting to EU countries that the good is imported to? as cement is considered a complex good.
From 1st January 2025, only calculations using the new EU methodology will be accepted and estimates (including default values) can only be used for complex goods if these estimations represent less than 20% of the total embedded emissions.
Information on default values can be found here.