Business Waste

All businesses have a legal ‘Duty of Care’ to dispose of their waste responsibly. Your business should:

• Put waste in a container.
• Transfer waste only to an authorised (licensed) person.
• Complete a Waste Transfer Note when your waste is remove.
• Prevent or clear-up street litter caused by your business.
• If you don’t comply with the legislation you could be held responsible and have to pay a fine. Call the Environment Agency on 03708 506 506 or email to find out more, or contact the commercial waste team at your local council.

From 1st October 2020 single use plastic straws, cottons buds and stirrers are banned in England. Guidance on how this applies to businesses can be found here.

Business waste is accepted at Thetford, King’s Lynn, Dereham, Ketteringham, Mayton Wood, Hempton and Caister recycling centres, for a charge.  This service is designed to be cost effective for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) and is available Monday to Friday only. More information can be found in our Trade Waste leaflet.

Waste can be accepted  from any premises used wholly or mainly for trade or business, or for sport, recreation, education or entertainment.  This also includes waste from gardening and building work carried out on a domestic property, if the person carrying out the work is not the homeowner.

You will need to have a waste carriers licence to use this service (see below).]

Items accepted as business waste:

• Non-recyclable waste, like carpets, sofas, rigid plastic, mattresses and black bagged waste
• Garden waste (i.e. hedge cuttings, grass cuttings and leaves)
• Flat or sheet glass (i.e. from windows)
• Rubble (i.e. bricks and concrete)
• Plasterboard
• Timber (i.e. clean structural wood or wooden furniture)
• Scrap metal
• Paper and cardboard
• Textiles
• Glass bottles (empty)

Items NOT accepted under the business waste service:

• Electrical equipment (i.e. fridges, televisions, printers etc.)
• Tyres (either cars or agricultural)
• Cooking oil
• Engine oil
• Car batteries
• Household batteries
• Gas bottles
• Light bulbs or fluorescent tubes
• Hazardous waste such as paint or household chemicals
• Industrial waste
• Agricultural waste
• Any other items not normally accepted at recycling centres, like hazardous waste

Some local councils and private business will offer a business waste collection service, if you choose to consider  these as a disposal or recycling outlet for your waste you may wish to consider the points below for discussion.

• If your business involves food, could a separate food waste collection be possible or look into composting food waste.
• Talk to your waste contractor or your local council about separate waste and recycling collections in your area.
• Organise separate bins inside and outside of your business to sort and keep recyclables ‘Clean, Dry & Loose’ – ready for onwards collection.
• If you are a SME, consider using the Trade Service at selected Recycling centres.

• Sign up to the Swap2Save campaign for tips on how to reduce single use products within your business
• Talk to your suppliers about your aim as a business to avoid creating waste in the first place. For example, ask them to work with you to reduce packaging materials that may generate waste for your business
• Explore take back schemes (returnable/refillable systems) or how essential components of transit packaging can be reused. For example reuse incoming packaging and boxes for outgoing deliveries.
• Use rechargeable batteries and refillable printer cartridges and consumable items that will last longer e.g. LED lighting.
• Always print double-sided and encourage paperless business systems (e-working).
• If your business involves food, think about organising a separate food waste collection or look into composting food waste.
• Provide ‘doggie bags’ for customers to take their uneaten food home
• Talk to your waste contractor or your local council about recycling collections in your area.
• Organise separate bins inside and outside of your business to sort and keep recyclables ‘Clean, Dry & Loose’ – ready for onwards collection.
• Ask before giving customers bags, disposable cutlery, or paper serviettes.
• Stock loose items where possible and avoid over-packaged products.
• Ensure staff have reusable mugs and glasses, not disposable cups.
• Visit the  Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) website, which provides lots of practical advice to help businesses become more resource efficient.

‘Upcycle your Waste’ is a new international three year-project brought to you by Norwich BID and Interreg.

This ambitious, Europe-wide project has  Norwich as one of only two cities involved representing the UK.

The project aims to get 20% of our collective pre-existing waste stream upcycled. Norwich Bid wants to support your business in reducing its costs, by handling and transforming your waste into new resources. The project is entirely free to participate in, and they are looking for as many businesses as possible to get involved; as it looks at ways Norwich’s business community can reduce it’s impact on the environment, creating a circular economy in the region. 

The first phase of the project will be a 20 minute phone interview, to evaluate your business barriers and drivers for upcycling. In this initial phase of the project, Norwich BID need 100 businesses to take part. The more businesses they can speak to, the better they can plan for how we can use our wasted resources to benefit the community and the planet.

If your business would like to be involved please get in touch with projects@norwichbid.co.uk.