Business waste responsibilities

Business waste is any waste that comes from a business or commercial activity. This could be waste from a shop, office, holiday home or childcare service. If you use part of your home to run your business, any waste generated as part of that is business waste.

Every business and organisation has a duty of care (a legal responsibility) for the waste they create.

Who business waste laws apply to

Any business that makes, stores, transports, processes, or disposes of waste has a duty of care to make sure it's managed responsibly. This applies even if you outsource your waste management. You should only ever use a legitimate, reliable and reputable waste management company.

Types of waste you need to recycle

Recycling rules for workplaces came into effect on 31 March 2025 for businesses and non-domestic premises with 10 or more full-time employees. For businesses with fewer than 10 full-time employees, the rules apply from 31 March 2027.

The recycling legislation requires businesses to separate food waste, glass, plastics, metals, paper and cardboard from general waste for recycling, regardless of the amount of waste your organisation produces.

Businesses need to have four separate bins:

food waste
paper and card
dry mixed recycling (metal, glass, plastic)
general waste

Visit our business waste collections page for details of our commercial waste collection service.

Why you can't use household bins for business waste

Household recycling and general waste bins are for household waste only. You can't use them for any waste generated as part of a business. You also can't dispose of business waste at a household waste recycling centre.

Business rates don't include charges for waste disposal. All businesses that produce waste must therefore have a commercial waste agreement and be able to produce this on request.

Any waste or recycling from your business should be collected and disposed of by a licensed waste carrier, including if your business is run from your home. You can also take your waste to a site licensed to handle business waste and pay the relevant disposal charges.

Storing your business waste

You're responsible for safely and securely storing your business's waste. It should be kept in a safe place, in clearly labelled, suitable, covered containers. Different types of waste should be stored separately so it doesn’t contaminate other waste. If your business produces hazardous waste, you have extra responsibilities for the safe storage of this.

Visit our business waste collections page for details of the different container sizes we offer as part of our commercial waste collection service.

Carrying business waste

If you want to dispose of your own waste regularly, you must register as a waste carrier. You should also check whether any company you use to transport or dispose of your waste is a registered waste carrier.

You can ask to see, and keep proof of, a waste carrier's registration certificate. You can also:

ask for a receipt
ask where your waste is being taken
take note of the name and vehicle registration when your waste is collected

Waste transfer notes

Every time waste is removed from your business, a waste transfer note must be filled out or you should be issued with a document that contains the same details. An example of this could be an invoice. If you have an ongoing waste collection contract where the details remain the same, this may be issued annually.

Waste transfer notes must be kept for two years for most waste, and three years for hazardous waste. The waste transfer note should show:

description of the waste
how it's contained
how much waste there is
your details
collector's details
location of the collection

How we can help with your business waste

We offer a full waste and recycling collection for any size of business, at competitive rates and with fixed-price contracts. We offer recycling collections of paper and cardboard, dry mixed recycling (glass bottles and jar, tins, cans and foil trays, and plastic bottles, tubs, trays and cartons), and food waste.

We'll provide you with the number and size of bins you need, and take care of all of the paperwork including waste transfer notes.

Find out more on our business waste collections webpage.

Enforcement of waste laws

We work with district enforcement officers to make sure businesses are disposing of their waste correctly. This helps us to stop fly-tipping, the illegal transfer of waste, and the overall environmental impact of business waste. For more details about enforcement, email safer@barnsley.gov.uk.

The Environment Agency are taking a pragmatic approach to enforcement of workplace recycling legislation, as they recognise that a transition period is required for both businesses and waste collectors. As long as businesses can evidence they have a plan in place to implement the changes, enforcement action won't be taken against them.

After the transition period, the Environmental Agency may take legal action if your business doesn't store and dispose of waste safely in line with your duty of care. In such instances, the Environment Agency can serve a compliance notice to your business. This must specify the:

failures to comply with sections 45AZA or 45AZB
steps to be taken to prevent the failure from continuing or recurring
period within which those steps must be taken

The timeframe for compliance will depend on what went wrong and the actions needed to fix it. Failure to comply with a compliance notice is an offence and the Environment Agency will consider what action to take in accordance with their enforcement and sanctions policy.