Simpler Recycling legislation

The UK government has introduced ‘Simpler Recycling’ legislation, which requires all councils in England to recycle the same materials, including food waste, from 31 March 2026, with other changes introduced from 2027.

Simpler Recycling was brought in to help make bin day easier for every home and business. People across England will be able to recycle the same materials, whether at home, work or school, putting an end to confusion over what can and can’t be recycled in different parts of the country.

This initiative aims to improve recycling rates, benefitting the environment and conserving valuable resources.

For most people, nothing.

We already collect food waste and recycling from households with their own bins, so for most people, there has been no change to what and how you recycle after 31 March 2026.

The only exception is that residents living in flats with communal bin collections now have food waste collections too.

Most businesses and non-domestic premises already separate all recycling and food waste from general waste and have this waste collected separately.

There will be no changes.

All households already:

• have collections for dry recyclable material (paper and card collected separately in the South of Buckinghamshire)
• separate food waste collections and general (non-recyclable) waste collections

We also already offer chargeable garden waste collections to collect garden waste separately.

Plastic film packaging and plastic bags will need to be collected with plastic recycling for businesses and residents. Micro-businesses with fewer than 10 employees must recycle all specified waste streams.

We do not currently accept these forms of plastic in recycling.

We will put this in place for residents by 31 March 2027.

Look out for more information nearer the time.

If we collect waste from outside your house, you should have the following bins:

• General waste bin
• Mixed recycling bin
• Paper and cardboard box (South Buckinghamshire only)
• Food recycling bin

If you don’t have these bins to separate your waste, you can order bins from us.

If you live in a flat with communal waste collections, you should have larger communal versions of these bins:

• General waste bin
• Mixed recycling bin
• Paper and cardboard bin (South Buckinghamshire only)
• Food recycling bin

Contact your managing agent if your block of flats is missing an of these bins.

Find out more about food waste recycling for flats.

We offer chargeable waste collections for non-domestic premises including schools, hospitals, care homes and buildings for public meetings.