What Goes in Commercial Recycling for London Businesses?
Guides
What Goes in Commercial Recycling for London Businesses?
Commercial recycling starts with the material groups the government sets out, but the exact list for each container comes from your collector. Use this guide to sort the common items and flag the uncertain ones. Then write bin instructions that match your London collection.
Check your recycling setupDry recycling defined
Paper and card checked
Glass kept separate
The collector’s list decides
What does commercial recycling mean for a London business?
Commercial recycling is the separating and collecting of recyclable waste that a business or workplace produces. The material can look identical to household recycling, but it sits under the business waste arrangement and its duty-of-care paperwork.
London commercial recycling begins where the waste is discarded
The person at the desk, counter, kitchen or unpacking point makes the decision that matters. If the right container isn’t close enough, or the label is vague, material goes into the wrong stream long before it reaches the main bin store.
London commercial recycling uses an agreed collection specification
The government defines the core material groups. The collector defines which products and packaging can go in each container on that route. Keep both in mind: the legal category tells you what has to be considered, and the service list tells staff what to do.
Which dry materials go in London commercial recycling?
Plastic, metal, glass, paper and card are the core dry recyclable groups in current guidance. They don’t all have to share one container. On Capital Recycle’s dry mixed recycling (DMR) service, glass never goes in DMR. It has its own bin.
Plastic packaging in London commercial recycling
Empty plastic bottles and containers are the everyday items. Rigid plastics, black plastic, expanded foam and unusual packaging need checking first. Don’t treat everything made of plastic as accepted packaging.
Metal packaging in London commercial recycling
Empty steel tins and aluminium drinks cans are the usual examples. Metal equipment, tools, electrical items and larger scrap objects aren’t packaging, so describe them separately when you ask for a quote.
Cartons in London commercial recycling
Food and drink cartons are composite packaging with a fibre core. Check the collector’s list before you put them on a label.
How should London businesses recycle paper and cardboard?
Current guidance says paper and card are collected separately from plastic, metal and glass by default. Co-collection is only allowed where the collector holds a valid written co-collection assessment.
Clean paper in London commercial recycling
Office paper and other agreed clean paper go in the paper stream. Confidential records may need secure destruction, so check what’s sensitive before staff use the ordinary paper container.
Dry cardboard in London commercial recycling
Empty the boxes and flatten them where you can. Keep them dry and away from food and oil. A premises producing a lot of boxes may be better off with dedicated cardboard and paper recycling.
Co-collected paper and card in London DMR
If the collector confirms an assessed co-collection arrangement, staff can follow that instruction. Don’t copy the arrangement from another building. The assessment applies to the collection design, not to the colour of the bin.
Which glass goes in London commercial recycling?
Capital Recycle’s glass service takes an agreed packaging stream in a dedicated 240-litre bin. Bottles and jars are the usual starting point. Anything that isn’t packaging glass needs checking first.
Bottles and jars in London commercial glass recycling
Empty bottles and jars before they go in the glass bin. Tip out any food and liquid. Keep bags of mixed waste and dry-recycling packaging out of it.
Mirrors and ceramics in London commercial glass recycling
Mirrors, ceramics, drinking glasses, window panes and heat-resistant glass are different from container glass. Don’t put them in the bottle-and-jar bin without checking. The commercial glass recycling page carries the service specification.
Where does food waste go in London commercial recycling?
Once the workplace rules apply, food waste has to be kept separate from dry recyclables and from residual waste. It needs a suitable contained collection, not a DMR bag. The Simpler Recycling guide for smaller London businesses covers when the rules apply, and you can ask us about the right collection route.
Kitchen preparation waste in London food separation
Peelings and leftovers from prep belong in the food-waste arrangement. Liquids and packaging follow the collector’s instruction rather than going into the same container out of habit.
Customer leftovers in London food separation
Where customers or visitors use the bins, the workplace still has to separate the streams before collection. The shape of the bin opening and the wording on the label change how much packaging ends up in the food waste, and the other way round.
What belongs in residual waste for a London business?
Residual waste is what’s left after the recycling and food streams have been separated. It shouldn’t become the default for clean packaging just because the label is familiar.
Non-recyclable items in London residual waste
An item can go into residual waste when it doesn’t match an available recycling stream and isn’t hazardous or otherwise controlled. The collector’s excluded-material list still applies.
Contaminated packaging in London residual waste
Packaging that can’t be emptied or cleaned well enough may have to go in residual. The better fix is to stop the contamination happening upstream, rather than relying on staff to rescue dirty material at the main bin.
Which items need a separate London waste route?
Some items sit outside everyday commercial recycling. Hazardous waste, electrical equipment, clinical or sanitary waste and construction materials each have their own legal and handling requirements.
Electrical items in London commercial waste
Electrical and electronic equipment shouldn’t go in DMR or residual waste by default. Record the item and arrange a proper route through a qualified provider.
Hazardous or clinical items in London commercial waste
Chemicals, batteries, lamps, asbestos, clinical material and other controlled waste need assessing on their own. Don’t hide them inside ordinary recycling. Capital Recycle doesn’t treat any of these as standard DMR items.
How can London businesses write a useful recycling label?
A useful label names the thing people are holding. It uses the collector’s accepted list plus a short set of exclusions drawn from the mistakes that actually happen at your premises.
A London DMR label should name local examples
Write “empty drinks cans, plastic bottles and accepted cartons” if those are the common items. Don’t write “all recyclables”, because glass and food have their own rules, and paper often does too.
A London cardboard label should protect dry material
Say “empty, flattened and dry” and show staff where tape and liners go if those keep causing confusion.
A London glass label should say bottles and jars
Add a short warning about drinking glasses and ceramics. Put the label at the bar or clearing point as well as on the main glass bin.
Commercial recycling material questions from London businesses
Do coffee cups go in commercial recycling in London?
Don’t assume so. Many cups are composite products and may need a specialist route. Ask whether the specific cup is accepted before it goes on a dry-recycling label.
Do black plastic containers go in London business recycling?
It varies by route and packaging type. Show the actual product to the collector rather than building a site-wide instruction from a generic internet list.
Do envelopes go in commercial paper recycling in London?
Ordinary paper envelopes usually go in, but window film and specialist liners can vary. Follow the paper specification for the site.
Do bottle tops go in commercial glass recycling in London?
Follow the collector’s instruction. What matters most on this service is that bottles and jars are empty and in the dedicated glass bin.
Do bin liners go in commercial recycling in London?
Only use liners approved for the collection. A liner can become contamination in its own right if the receiving route doesn’t accept it, even when everything inside is recyclable.
Can a London business use one recycling poster for every site?
Only if every site has the same collector specification and stream setup. Where arrangements differ, site-specific labels are safer than a brand-wide poster that contradicts the local instruction.
What is the next material-check step for London commercial recycling?
List the uncertain items and photograph them. Send the list with the site’s normal weekly volume and storage details. The collector can then turn a broad material guide into an exact collection specification for your premises.
Get a recycling collection assessmentLast checked: 4 September 2026 against GOV.UK, “Simpler recycling: workplace recycling in England”.