Containers for your Retail and Wholesale waste and recycling needs

Estimated reading time: 5 min

Providing the right bins and containers for your waste and recycling, and storing them in the right location, is essential for helping your staff, customers and visitors separate waste more effectively and increase the amount your organisation recycles.

In deciding what kind of waste and recycling containers and storage areas your organisation needs, think about these two questions:

What types and quantities of waste materials does your organisation generate? For example, a large grocery retailer would generate large amounts of cardboard and food waste, while a small independent retailer likely generates paper and a small amount of food waste, plastic and cardboard packaging.
Where in your workplace is waste being generated, and by whom? For example, your warehouse or back of store might generate large amounts of waste cardboard, but the staff break room would generate small amounts of plastic packaging and food waste from staff breaks.

Answering these questions will help you manage the way waste and recycling moves through your premises. For example, you can position internal containers and bins in the places where waste is generated, such as by desks in office areas, in front of store areas or at kitchen prep/clearing stations.

The majority of waste the retail and wholesale sector produces is recyclable, such as cardboard and packaging waste. The new workplace recycling regulations will mean that most of your waste will need to be separated for recycling. Understanding your waste and ensuring you have sufficient capacity for keeping different types separate will therefore be critical to success.

Additional regulations require retailers to provide take-back schemes for electrical waste and batteries. You’ll therefore need to consider the containers you’ll need at both the front and back of store to ensure they have sufficient capacity. You’ll find more information on electrical waste recycling at Material Focus.

Checklist: choosing the right bins for your workplace

Large enough to contain waste and recycling between emptying, but not so large that they’re difficult to manoeuvre or lift. We recommend that the containers you use to separate food waste indoors, for example in a food prep setting, should be 35 litres or less, and that the outdoor containers you use to present food waste for collection should be no larger than 140 litres, to keep them suitable for manual handling Commercial Food Waste Collections Guide
With lids or covers to keep materials dry and stop waste escaping
Store different types of waste separately so that they don’t contaminate each other – this also means you can reuse them more easily, and it’ll be easier to complete your correctly
Label containers clearly with the waste they contain

If you’re short of space, vertical multi-compartment recycling bins or stackable bins may be an option, as these have the same footprint as a single bin while allowing you to separate materials. You’ll need to take into account that these types of bins will probably need emptying more often.

How to keep waste and recycling separate

It’s easiest to separate recyclable materials from general waste at the point where it’s produced. Here’s how to keep your recycling separate from other waste:

Create recycling stations where waste and recycling are generated and include a container for general waste. Remember to provide recycling stations at both front of store, for your customers and visitors to use, as well as in your warehouse, stock room, office or staff break room for your employees.
Colour-code containers consistently throughout your premises to reduce confusion
Use our material-specific posters to label bins – they use distinctive colours and images that are used and recognised nationally across recycling services
Provide training – communicate the changes to your employees and cleaning and maintenance staff or service provider, providing separate training where necessary
Reward good practice – this will encourage further improvements

You can also speak with your current cleaning or waste about supplying new bins if they’re needed.

Good to know
There’s no official colour-coding system for bins in workplaces. However, it’s still good practice to establish a colour-coded system for food waste, dry recycling materials and general waste, especially across multi-site businesses. Clear labelling and being consistent with waste and recycling bin colours should minimise things ending up in the wrong bin.