GuidesEngland
Recycling records for shops
Last reviewed 25 October 2026
Shops in England commonly produce cardboard and other paper and card, plastic packaging, and general waste. A staff room that produces food waste needs a separate food-waste collection. Cardboard is paper and card, so it stays out of the mixed dry recycling unless the collector has a written assessment.
Cardboard is the stream people miss
Shops produce a lot of cardboard and other paper and card, plus plastic packaging and general waste. Cardboard is paper and card. It stays out of the mixed bottle and can recycling unless the collector has a written assessment.
A staff room that produces food waste needs a separate food collection. If the shop does not produce food waste, record that. The food stream then does not apply. Packaging the collector will not take, including much soft plastic, stays in general waste.
More than one unit
Record the shop as a site. A stock room or a separate unit with different bins can be its own site. A shopping-centre landlord often arranges the bins. Keep their written confirmation, including any stream they do not collect.
If the site is in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, read the guide for that nation. The streams and dates there are different. The free check on SortProof uses the England rules.
In short
- Record the shop as a site, and a stock room or separate unit as its own site if the bins differ.
- Keep cardboard and paper separate from plastic, cans and glass.
- If the staff room produces food waste, arrange a separate food collection.
- Keep general waste, including soft plastic your collector does not take, out of the recycling.
- File the collection contract or the shopping-centre landlord’s confirmation.
Questions
Can cardboard go in with plastic bottles?
Only if the collector has a written assessment for collecting paper and card with other dry recycling. Otherwise keep cardboard separate.
What if we produce no food waste?
The food-waste stream applies when the workplace produces food waste. Record that you do not produce it, and still separate the streams you do produce.
Related guides
SortProof stores the record you enter. It is guidance, not a certificate, and it is not issued by Defra or the Environment Agency.