More rigorous household waste management requirements, badged Simpler Recycling, are coming down the tracks in England, with a 31 March 2026 deadline. Great! But in the rush towards the four-bin future, don’t forget to keep your confidential information safeguarded.

In the same vein as the Simpler Recycling regulations which came into play last spring for businesses employing 10 people and above, so will domestic collections need to be more closely managed by all of us and, whatever type and size of dwelling, there will need to be a very special reason, eg, an isolated location, for not complying with the new regulations.

With no further ado, some Dos and Don’ts!

DO

• Make recycling your default habit and educate your household to behave in the same way.
• Embrace the four-bin system!

There should be separate collections for each of the following types of waste, although do check with your local council to make sure.

1. Food and garden waste, eg, fruit and vegetable cores and leaves, old leftovers, stale sandwiches, eggshells, plate scraps and scrapings
2. Paper and cardboard, eg, CLEAN wrappers, delivery boxes, envelopes, marketing bumph, egg and cereal boxes, juice cartons
3. Dry mixed recyclables, eg, CLEAN AND DRY tins, glass, hard plastics such as oil bottles, yoghurt pots
4. Residual/non-recyclable waste, eg, plastic film lids, plastic bags, wrappers and packaging, contaminated paper and plastics (food, oil, etc)

• Segregate your waste, if you have space, before putting out for kerbside collection. Separate boxes for storage between collections work well and are easy to use for all the family.
• Dispose of large items such as furniture or electronics through licensed waste carriers only.

· Do the Right Thing by your community and the planet.

DON’T

• Don’t throw contaminated tins, plastics, paper or card into the recycling bins. Clean them first! A quick rinse, brush down, etc, should do the trick. Contaminated items can mess up a whole recycling stream at your local facility. However, if a pizza box, for example, is really messy, dispose of it in the non-recyclable box.
• Don’t contribute to the growing waste mountains (see here for details) in England. Always use a licensed and accredited waste carrier to get rid of items such as furniture or electronics.
• Don’t put your confidential paperwork in the paper and card recycling box.

It’s easy to use by logging on to your Restore Datashred account via our Shred Smart portal and clicking on Home Shred. Choose from either a small or large box, large shredding sacks or a lockable cabinet (for shared households?) and we will deliver it, next day, to get you up and running. Once the bin/box/sack is full, log in and set up a collection time; we can even send one of our mobile shredding trucks to you, if you prefer, for on-the-spot, super speedy destruction you can witness. Secure chain of custody is guaranteed from door to shredding blade and a certificate of destruction for your peace of mind completes the process.

Maybe that should be a FIVE-bin future?!

What we’re really saying is you need TWO bins for paper and card recycling. One for normal paper waste that you put out for collection and recycling by your local authority, and one that’s clearly labelled and kept apart – and locked? – for all your confidential paper waste. The contents (or whole box) of this second, protected waste stream bin goes for secure destruction at a Restore Datashred site, with the shreds being sent to a partner facility for recycling.