Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she is taking steps with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy to offer incentives to businesses to encourage greater uptake of workplace recycling.

In 2019, the Government consulted on measures to require businesses, public bodies and other organisations to segregate recyclable waste streams including plastic, metal, paper, glass and food waste so that these could be collected and recycled. The Government also consulted on measures to reduce the costs of putting in place recycling collections especially for smaller firms. The response to this consultation was published in July 2019 and showed strong support for businesses to recycle. The forthcoming Environment Bill is expected to introduce duties for businesses to separate waste to be recycled in England. The Government will work with businesses to implement these changes and to increase recycling including investigating measures to reduce costs.

In addition, the Government has launched a £1 million fund to promote recycling of non-household municipal waste (or business waste) in England. This fund will provide capital infrastructure to support collection and recycling of non-household municipal waste (or business waste) in England. The aim is to encourage organisations that collect or facilitate collection of this waste to provide new or improved recycling services. There is an additional aim of providing new infrastructure and better access to services targeting / benefitting small to medium enterprises. The grant scheme is managed by the Waste and Resources Action Programme. The scheme has now closed and applications for funding are being considered.