top of page

Categories

Online Courses

eLearning Portal

By providing a range of in-house and online training courses, we can guarantee you or your employees are compliant at all levels of your organisation. Please contact us for updates and new offers. 

Health & Safety

Quality Consultancy

The perfect solution for small businesses

Other Services

Since businesses experience rapid change, it's hard to stay on top of the latest legislation, which can increase risk. We provide comprehensive information, as well as expert training to help you comply.

Search

The UK's 2024/25 Waste Strategy: How Your ISO 14001 EMS Becomes Essential Compliance

  • Writer: Myra Abordo
    Myra Abordo
  • Oct 31
  • 3 min read
A photo of trash bins

The UK's environmental landscape is changing rapidly, bringing new legal deadlines for waste management. From revised Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations impacting packaging to upcoming mandatory food waste collections for businesses, these changes aren't optional; they are critical, legally binding requirements.


Your ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) is not just a badge of honour; it is the fundamental business structure required to collect the necessary data, track legal compliance, and demonstrate the due diligence required to meet these new, critical deadlines. Without a robust EMS, businesses risk significant fines, supply chain disruption, and reputation damage.


1. Mandatory Commercial Food Waste Segregation: The Deadline for Separation


Starting March 31, 2025, most businesses in England (with 10 or more full-time equivalent employees) must ensure the separate collection of food waste. This new law is designed to drastically reduce the amount of organic material sent to landfill, which produces harmful methane gas, and instead divert it to anaerobic digestion for renewable energy and fertiliser.


The Compliance Challenge: This change requires a significant operational shift across all areas: offices, canteens, kitchens, and production areas. Your organisation must:

  • Implement a new, segregated waste stream.

  • Train all employees on proper food waste separation and ensure clear signage.

  • Select and contract a licensed waste carrier for the new stream.


How Your ISO 14001 EMS Provides the Solution: The Operational Planning and Control clause of ISO 14001 directly addresses this. Your EMS requires:

  • Process Mapping: Identifying every point of food waste generation and designing new, controlled collection procedures.

  • Competence and Training: Mandating, delivering, and recording staff training on the new segregation rules, proving due diligence.

  • Documentation: Generating the required Waste Transfer N

  • otes and audit trails to demonstrate legal compliance to regulators.


2. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for Packaging: The Data and Financial Burden


EPR for packaging continues to ramp up, shifting the full cost of dealing with packaging waste from local authorities to the producers (the businesses placing it on the market). While fees are based on 2024 data and are due from October 2025, the underlying obligation is a continual, complex data challenge.


The Compliance Challenge: Obligated producers must report highly granular data. This data must be categorised by:

  • Material type (plastic, glass, paper, etc.).

  • Packaging format.

  • Whether the packaging is deemed 'household' (and therefore incurs the new, variable EPR fee).


How Your ISO 14001 EMS Provides the Solution: The EMS framework is perfectly designed to manage this complex data set:

  • Legal & Other Requirements Register: EPR becomes a critical, mandatory entry, with compliance obligations clearly defined and monitored.

  • Measurement and Analysis: ISO 14001 forces you to establish a robust system for collecting, quantifying, and accurately reporting all packaging data as a significant environmental aspect. This prevents errors that could lead to inflated fees or non-compliance fines.

  • Life Cycle Perspective: The EMS drives you to design packaging that is easier to recycle and incurs lower EPR fees, turning a regulatory cost into a strategic saving.


3. Simpler Recycling and Waste Separation: Upping the Ante on Quality


Alongside the food waste rule, Simpler Recycling regulations mandate the separation of dry recyclables (paper, card, plastic, metal, and glass) from general waste for most businesses from March 31, 2025. The focus here is on quality; a single contaminated bin can lead to the entire load being rejected and sent to landfill.


The Compliance Challenge: Businesses must ensure their separated waste streams are not cross-contaminated. A contaminated load means a compliance breach, but proving you took "all reasonable steps" to prevent it is essential for an effective defence.


How Your ISO 14001 EMS Provides the Solution: The core tenet of Continual Improvement (Plan-Do-Check-Act) is your legal shield:

  • Monitoring and Measurement: Your EMS requires you to monitor key environmental performance indicators. By tracking contractor rejection notices and internal contamination rates, you have immediate data to flag an issue.

  • Corrective Action: The EMS demands a formal procedure to address non-conformances (like a rejected waste load). This means you must investigate the root cause and implement a corrective action (e.g., re-train staff, update bin labels). This documented audit trail proves you are actively and systematically working to prevent non-compliance, demonstrating true due diligence to any regulator.


Don't Just React—Master Your ISO 14001 Compliance with Base Solutions


The UK's 2024/25 waste strategy requires more than a quick fix; it demands a structured, auditable management system. Your ISO 14001 EMS is not the enemy; it is the essential tool that transforms a scattershot of regulations into a clear, managed business process.

If your current EMS is struggling to capture EPR data, manage new food waste streams, or provide the necessary audit trail for due diligence, you are exposed.


👉 Take control of your compliance today. Contact Base Solutions to leverage the power of your ISO 14001 EMS and ensure you meet every critical UK waste deadline.

📞 +44 (0)20 3976 9478

Comments

bottom of page