Waste and recycling management is the compliant segregation, storage, and removal of a business's waste streams. Optus Glean UK manages business waste nationwide as part of our soft FM offer on fixed monthly pricing - handling segregation, authorised-carrier removal, and the duty-of-care paperwork so waste is one less thing your site has to manage.
Your duty of care for business waste
Every business has a legal duty of care for its waste: it must store waste safely, transfer it only to an authorised carrier, and describe it accurately on a waste transfer note, keeping the records as evidence. This is set out under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. We manage the segregation and removal and keep the paperwork straight, so your duty of care is demonstrably met.
The waste hierarchy - reduce before dispose
UK waste policy follows the waste hierarchy: prevent waste first, then reuse, then recycle, then recover, and only dispose (landfill) as a last resort. A good waste contract is judged on how much it diverts from landfill, not just on collections. We set up segregated streams - dry mixed recycling, glass, food, general - so more is recycled and less is disposed of, and report on it.
Specialist and hygiene waste streams
Some waste needs a dedicated route: sanitary and nappy waste from washroom services, confidential paper, WEEE (electricals), and - in care and healthcare - clinical and offensive waste, which must be handled to the appropriate healthcare standard. We consolidate these streams so a site with a clinical cleaning contract has one provider and one audit trail across cleaning, washrooms, and waste.
Bundled with cleaning across every site
Waste is a natural part of a cleaning contract - the cleaners already handle the bins - so bundling waste and recycling into your facilities management package means one account manager, one invoice, and consistent segregation at every site. For a multi-site estate, that is the national alternative to arranging separate local waste contracts town by town.
The waste hierarchy (UK) - most to least preferred
| Priority | Option | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Prevention | Reduce what is thrown away in the first place |
| 2 | Reuse | Reuse items rather than discard them |
| 3 | Recycling | Segregated dry mixed recycling, glass, food |
| 4 | Recovery | Energy from waste, composting |
| 5 | Disposal | Landfill - last resort |