---
title: The Micro-Firm Recycling Exemption Ends in March 2027, and Multi-Site Owners Never Qualified for It
description: Micro-firms in England have until 31 March 2027 to separate their waste, and the headcount that decides the exemption counts the whole organisation.
author: Darie Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
updated: 2026-07-28T17:17:43.244Z
canonical: https://www.sovereignmagazine.com/article/simpler-recycling-micro-firm-exemption-2027
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/simpler-recycling-micro-firm-deadline-60018.webp
categories: Business
content_type: News
region: United Kingdom
publication: Sovereign Magazine
access: members
schema_type: Article
---

England's smallest businesses have until 31 March 2027 to start separating their waste. A good number of them do not have until 2027 at all, because they were never micro-firms in the first place.

The rules, published by Defra as [Simpler Recycling](https://www.gov.uk/guidance/simpler-recycling-workplace-recycling-in-england), came into force on 31 March 2025 and require every workplace in England to separate three streams before collection: dry recyclables, meaning plastic, metal, glass, paper and card; food waste; and non-recyclable residual waste. Firms with fewer than ten full-time equivalent employees were given two extra years. There are 1,150,875 micro-businesses employing between one and nine people across the UK, and Better Waste Solutions, the Gateshead waste management company that has been pressing the point, says most of those covered have no idea the clock is running.

## The headcount is counted across the whole business

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