Food waste collection for businesses
Workplaces in England with 10 or more full-time equivalent employees have had to separate food waste since 31 March 2025. Under 10 employees, your date is 31 March 2027 (GOV.UK, updated 3 October 2025). We arrange the collection through licensed carriers. The carrier's rate plus our margin is shown to you before you sign.
Caddies and bins come with the service, so there is nothing to buy. If your current collection already prices well for your frequency, we tell you and you stay put.
The rules and the dates
Simpler Recycling makes English workplaces separate food waste from dry recyclables and general waste. The headcount covers the whole business, all sites together, with part-timers counted by their pro-rated hours. There is no volume threshold, and the rule applies no matter how little food waste you have, even with no kitchen on site (GOV.UK, updated 3 October 2025). Composting on site is a permitted alternative to a collection.
What counts as food waste
Prep waste, plate waste and out-of-date stock. GOV.UK's examples are leftovers from customer or staff meals, banana skins and apple cores, coffee grounds, tea bags, and prep waste such as onion skins. Caddy liners go in with it, compostable ones included (GOV.UK, updated 3 October 2025).
Caddies, bins and frequency
A kitchen runs a small caddy by the prep bench, tipped into a lidded outdoor bin between services. Waste collectors recommend a weekly or fortnightly lift, which keeps pests and smells down (GOV.UK, updated 3 October 2025). Ask about bin rinsing when you quote, because a food bin nobody washes becomes somebody's job.
Where it goes
The carriers we arrange send food waste to anaerobic digestion, which yields biogas and a digestate used as farm fertiliser. Permitted landfill stays legal for catering waste too, so ask your carrier to confirm anaerobic digestion in writing (GOV.UK animal by-products guidance, checked August 2026).
Who lifts your bin
We arrange the collection. We do not run the trucks. The carrier and its Environment Agency permit are CARRIER + EA PERMIT — Kev to supply. Our broker registration is WASTE BROKER REGISTRATION No. — Kev to supply. GOV.UK tells you to check your collector on the public register of waste carriers, brokers and dealers. Food is one of the five streams on our commercial waste page.
Common questions
- Do businesses have to separate food waste?
In England, yes. It has applied since 31 March 2025 to businesses with 10 or more full-time equivalent employees. Everyone else has until 31 March 2027 (GOV.UK, updated 3 October 2025). Count employees across the whole business.
- What counts as food waste under Simpler Recycling?
Anything edible you throw out, plus the trimmings. GOV.UK lists staff and customer leftovers, coffee grounds, tea bags and prep waste such as onion skins. Caddy liners can go in too.
- How often should commercial food waste be collected?
Weekly or fortnightly, which is what waste collectors recommend (GOV.UK, updated 3 October 2025). A busy kitchen in summer wants weekly. Frequency is the lever that moves your price most.
- How much does commercial food waste collection cost?
Nobody publishes a rate for this. Treat any figure without a source as a guess. Your number turns on postcode, bin size, how often it is lifted and how long you sign for. Watch when the price lock ends as well, because the uplift afterwards arrives quietly. Put your postcode into business waste collection and we will price it.