Are you paying to throw away valuable resources?
18th August 2026
You might not realise but your business could be paying to throw away valuable resources. Let’s take a look at why and how.
Commercial waste disposal is an essential service, however many businesses dispose of materials that haven’t necessarily reached their end of life.
Many businesses dispose of materials that haven’t necessarily reached the end of their useful lives. In fact, according to research by WRAP CYMRU, around 70% of office waste is recyclable.
Instead of thinking of everything we put into bins as rubbish, businesses need to start looking at waste as a potential resource.
What valuable resources are businesses throwing away?
Since the introduction of Simpler Recycling rules in England, workplaces around the country are now expected to take a more rigorous approach to waste management.
Businesses of 10 or more employees are required to separate waste across four streams covering food and garden waste, paper and card, dry recyclable materials and residual waste.
Residual waste is essentially what many of us previously called the general waste bin. But that doesn’t mean it should contain “generally everything”. It’s there for material that can’t be recycled through the other collections. Poor segregation means valuable resources can still end up there.
We’re not necessarily talking about expensive materials. Everyday items such as cardboard, paper, glass and metals all have value because they can potentially be recovered and turned into something useful again.
Put a glass bottle into the correct commercial glass recycling collection, for example, and the material has an opportunity to be recycled. Throw it into residual waste and that opportunity could be lost.
The same principle applies to food waste collection, paper, card and other recyclable materials.
The cost of poor segregation
Mixing waste streams can cost businesses in several ways. Contamination can result in additional charges, while poor waste management practices can contribute to higher disposal costs and potentially create compliance problems.
There’s a less obvious cost too: the lost opportunity to contribute towards a circular economy. The traditional economic model is largely linear because we take resources, make products, use them and throw them away.
A circular economy tries to keep resources in use for longer through reuse, repair and recycling. Your workplace bins might seem like a very small part of that picture, but multiplied across thousands of UK organisations, better segregation can make a significant difference.
Could you reuse before you recycle?
Recycling shouldn’t automatically be the first option either. Before putting something into a recycling collection, it’s important to ask whether your business could reuse it.
Cardboard boxes could potentially be reused for outgoing deliveries. Packaging materials might have another use before they’re discarded. Even relatively simple changes to purchasing and operational processes could help prevent materials becoming waste in the first place.
That can reduce the amount your business spends on new supplies while potentially lowering waste management costs at the same time.
Get more from your waste management
Good commercial waste management shouldn’t simply be about making your rubbish disappear. The right supplier should help you understand what you’re throwing away and identify opportunities to operate more efficiently.
At Everflow, we take the time to review your waste streams, arrange appropriate collection and disposal services and help your organisation contribute towards a more circular economy.
You might not simply be looking at waste. You could be looking at useful resources that your business is paying to throw away.
Contact Everflow today!
At Everflow, our goal is to make your utilities simpler – we ensure you get great-value contracts that are tailored to your needs and easy to manage. Get a bespoke quote using the link below.
