Food waste generated by businesses is when raw ingredients, prepared dishes, expired products, or leftovers (also known as food scraps) are discarded by a company.
Most commercial food waste is generated by restaurants, hotels, catering services, and supermarkets.
It’s important that businesses that produce wasted food obtain a separate bin for the food they need to dispose of; it saves costs, aids your business in complying with legal obligations, and is better for the environment.
What is Business Food Waste?
Commercial Food Waste refers to the discarded or unused food that is generated by a business.
This could include unwanted raw ingredients, fully prepared or fully cooked dishes, leftovers from a meal or food scraps, or even food products that are passed their expiry that need disposing of.
It’s important to note that this is not the same as domestic household food waste which has a different set of rules for how it should be thrown away.
Food waste is also not the same as organic waste, which also needs to be disposed of differently.
At Waste Basics, we understand that your time should be spent running your business.
So if food waste can be confusing and you’d prefer us to take care of it all for you then get in touch with us today, or request a callback for more information then one of our friendly team will be happy to help!
Typically commercial food waste can be separated into 4 categories:
- By-Products (the waste that is generated by preparing food, e.g. fruit and vegetable peels, or coffee grounds)
- Expired or Spoiled Consumables (food that has passed its expiry/sell-by date or has ‘gone off’)
- Leftovers (also known as table scraps – remainders of edible food that may have been part of a complete meal that was not eaten. Also known as ‘plate waste’.)
- Overproduction/ Unsold Inventory (e.g. when a restaurant prepares too many dishes, or cooks more items than it sells. For example, a bakery makes 10 loaves of bread but only sells 5).
- Spilled/ Ruined Food (for example food that’s been spilled on the floor, or ruined by being overcooked or burnt).
1) How Do Businesses Generate Food Waste?
Lots of businesses generate food waste, with the most apparent probably being restaurants, cafes, takeaways, and catering services.
Additionally, companies that provide food services into their operations, like an office building with a cafeteria for example, contribute to this waste.
There are also businesses with physical workplaces, such as large in-office teams that take breakfast and lunch breaks, who then inadvertently produce waste (both food and general) into their daily routines.
It’s important to note the upcoming changes to the way your business must handle and sort food waste due to the ‘Environmental Act 2021′.
Even if your business’ main source of revenue is not from the making or selling of food, or if food refuse is a just a by-product of having a physical workspace, you will still be liable to dispose of your excess food in accordance with this legislation.
If you have any questions around your business’ liability with this impending legislation and would like to find out more about how to dispose of your food waste, get in touch with our friendly team today.
Alternatively, we have a completely free quote tool available on our website to gain access to our food bin pricing instantly.
Businesses can create food waste in various ways:
- Overproduction: Businesses might prepare more food than is actually ordered or consumed, leading to excess that goes uneaten.
- Spoilage: Food items may spoil before they can be used or sold, often due to inadequate storage, mishandling, or improper temperature control.
- Expiration: Businesses might dispose of food that has passed its expiration date, even if it’s still safe to consume.
- Plate Waste: In restaurants and cafeterias, customers may not finish the food they order, leading to plate waste.
- Quality Standards: Businesses might discard food that doesn’t meet visual or quality standards, even if it’s still edible. This could include food that’s been overcooked or spilled on the floor.
- Miscommunication: In some cases, orders might be miscommunicated or misinterpreted, leading to excess food that goes to waste.
2) Why Does My Business Need a Food Waste Bin?
Food waste bins are vital for businesses that produce excess food refuse.
There are multiple reasons why your business could benefit from having a food disposal bin.
Adding a waste stream for your excess food refuse provides multiple advantages, including effective weight management, cost reductions and a better impact on sustainability.
By segregating food waste, companies can reduce their environmental footprint, and significantly reduce overall bin collection costs.
1) Cost Savings Due to Weight
On average, food waste that your business is generating tends to be significantly heavier than the general waste your business is producing.
By deciding to separate your food waste, you will no longer be taking up that weight in your general waste bin.
This reduces the likelihood of overweight fees for exceeding the maximum limit on your general waste bins.
In addition, it means you could reduce the frequency of the pickup of your general waste bin, or reduce the amount/ size of the general waste bins you currently have.
2) Environmental Responsibility
Food waste collected from your business, if put in a general waste bin, in almost every case has a worse environmental impact than if you were to use a food waste bin.
When general waste is collected by waste collection suppliers, they have several methods of disposing of that waste.
In the UK, it can be sent to a landfill, incinerated to generate electricity, or where possible recycled (however depending on where you are in the country, this is unlikely).
When food waste has been put into a general waste bin, the surplus food refuse that is sent to a landfill generates methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas, even more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2)!
In the UK, it’s estimated that we throw away around 9.5 million tonnes of food annually.
For every 1 ton of food waste that decomposes in a landfill, 65kg of methane is released into the atmosphere – that’s the weight of around 10 bicycles!
Methane is particularly harmful to the environment because it’s a robust greenhouse gas, trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere much more effectively than carbon dioxide (CO2).
Its intense heat-trapping ability makes it a significant contributor to global warming.
Methane production not only contributes to rising global temperatures, but aids in deteriorating air quality which can harm humans and ecosystems.
If your business opts to use a food bin in the UK, the waste is then sent to be recycled and converted into:
- Biofuel for Road Transportation (Cars, Buses, Trucks/Lorries)
- Fertiliser for Farming
- Biogas to Generate Electricity
3) Legal Compliance
There are different requirements for separating food waste depending on where you are in the UK.
For any extra guidance on what your business needs, feel free to give us a quick call and we can answer any questions you may have.
The new government legislation, ‘The Environmental Act 2021’, was predicted to come into effect in October 2023, but now is looking more likely for April 2024.
You can sign up to our mailing list to get updates on how to prepare your business for the impending changes.
The regulatory changes will affect almost every business in the UK with a physical place of work.
This change will not only include:
- Restaurants
- Cafes
- Pubs
- Takeaways
But also any other business that produces over 5kg of food waste per week.
So this will include most:
- Businesses with an office space
- Public sector buildings (GP surgeries, libraries, schools)
- Factories or warehouses that contain a cafeteria or a break room
- Retail Stores that house a rest area or staff room to consume food
Did you know that 5kg is approximately about 8-9 Tesco Meal Deals, or the weight of two average Dell laptops?
This food will no longer be able to go in your business’ general waste bin, and therefore you must obtain a food waste bin and a method of food refuse collection.
It can be difficult to picture whether you’ll need a food waste bin or not, and how you should go about getting this organised for your business.
We’re here to help.
You can use our free online quote tool for instant access to prices, give us a call directly, or request a callback at a more convenient time where one of our friendly team will be happy to advise.
3) What Can Go in My Food Waste Bin?
Almost all of the food that your business will generate, or already generates will be able to go into your commercial food waste bin.
Here are some examples of the types of food-based organic waste that can go into your commercial food bin:
- Dairy Products (e.g. cheese, yoghurt, butter)
- Bread, Cake, Pastries
- Eggshells
- Tea Bags, Coffee Grounds
- Food Scraps (such as leftover foods on plates)
- Meat & Fish
Not everything can go into your food bin.
Here are some examples of what not to put in your food bin:
- Non-Organic Materials (such as food packaging like plastic food containers, chocolate wrappers, glass jars etc.)
- Plastic Bags, Bin Bags or Black Bags (you must use clear, biodegradable bags to dispose of your food waste).
- Catering Supplies (e.g. napkins, paper towels, disposable trays)
- Cooking Oil (very small amounts of cooking oil can go in your food waste bin once it has cooled, but not larger volumes).
- Hazardous Waste (such as batteries, chemicals, cleaning products)
Our sister company Waste Managed will help you with disposing of your cooking oil and hazardous waste.
Get in touch for a no-strings attached quote today.
It’s important for your business to have the most efficient waste management system by separating its waste into multiple waste streams, such as a general waste bin and a commercial food bin.
If your commercial food waste bin is being used to dispose of unpermitted items, then your waste collection supplier can deny pickup.
Here at Waste Basics, we’re completely transparent with our pricing, and always have someone on hand to answer any of your questions.
If you’d like to know more about how to dispose of your food waste, then you can get in touch with our friendly team, or request a callback at a time that’s the most convenient.
4) What is the Size of a Food Waste Bin?
At Waste Basics, we are an award-winning Waste Broker, and have been helping clients throughout every region of the UK for over 12 years.
We have found that our food waste bin is an incredibly valued choice amongst our 27,000+ customers as it’s a huge cost-saving tool.
They tend to save our clients a huge amount of investment over the longer-term due to the heavy weight of food waste in comparison to commercial general waste.
Our 240L food waste bin is small but mighty.
It can hold up to 4 full food disposal bags, and up to 100kg of waste (that’s the weight of a standard refrigerator, or a small piano!)
It measures 1.08m in height and just 0.58m in width. That’s the same size as your household wheelie bin!
Dependent on your food disposal requirements, some businesses choose to get multiple bins if they produce more food refuse than expected.
If your business has access to a secure waste store, our bins dimensions are ideal for small spaces where you might need some safe-saving storage.
Unlike other waste collection suppliers like Biffa or Veolia, you’ll never encounter any hidden fees or variable costs with us.
We will always have completely transparent pricing so you know exactly what you’re paying for when it comes to your food waste every time.
You can use our free quote tool for instant access to what your requirements will cost you, or give us a no-strings, free call to find out more.
5) What Will a Commercial Food Waste Bin Cost?
Here at Waste Basics, we don’t believe in hidden pricing or confusing contracts.
Other waste suppliers like Biffa, Veolia, or Viridor intentionally hide the cost of their product so that they can manipulate small and large businesses into paying the absolute maximum for their service.
We didn’t like that approach.
So ever since founding our company, we have always been 100% transparent with exactly how much our service will cost your business, and our 27,000+ customers have expressed how much they appreciate this!
Our Food Refuse Bin costs £40+VAT per month to collect every week, or if you have less demand for food waste collection, we can collect bi-weekly at a cost of £20+VAT per month instead.
Simple!
Check out our free quote tool to get instant access to exactly what our waste management services will cost your business.
Alternatively, if you’d like to speak to a human being, get in touch today, or request a callback for a more convenient time for you.
6) What are My Legal Requirements for Disposing of Food?
You may have heard about the upcoming changes on how your business will be required to process food waste.
The Environmental Act 2021 was due to take effect across the UK in October 2023, but at the moment this is only true for businesses in Wales.
To our knowledge, England will likely follow suit in April 2024.
To keep up with any new information released on the legislation, you can sign up to our mailing list.
The Environmental Act 2021 has had some provisions to the original legislation that will have an effect on the way your business disposes of its waste.
This is to help the Government with their pledge to reduce food waste by 20% by 2025, and eliminating food waste from landfill by 2030.
The new provisions that are relevant to your business are as follows:
1) Sorting Waste
Your business must now have separate waste streams for all of your recyclable waste so that it can be collected separately for either recycling or composting.
It can no longer be sent to landfill or incineration, and macerators (machines that chop and flush food down drains using large volumes of water or liquidising digestors) are completely banned.
What counts as recyclable waste for businesses?
- Food Waste
- Metal
- Plastic
- Paper & Card
- Glass
The goal for having more strict rules for sorting waste for recycling is that we can get closer to a circular economy and having a more positive impact on the environment.
2) Collection
Your commercial recyclable waste has to be collected separately so that it can be recycled appropriately.
This means you will most likely require a separate bin for each recyclable waste stream e.g. one bin for food waste, another for metal, another for plastic etc.
The number of bins or the number of compartmentalised bins you require will depend on what waste your business produces as well as how much.
Your business must have adequate facilities for storing and disposing of food waste.
This means that waste stores must be designed and managed in a way that enables them to be kept clean, and free of pests.
We understand that this is a big change to the way your business is currently disposing of waste and can be quite overwhelming.
Depending on how you’d like to find out more, we’ve got you covered:
- Talk to a real human being about your business, your options and how we can get the best fit for you.
- Use our free, instant quote tool to get information now.
- Request a callback and the most convenient time for you.
3) Reporting
You may have heard about strict rules around reporting in high detail on the food waste your business is producing.
This legislation is making reporting on food waste mandatory, but only for large businesses in the UK.
These large businesses include companies that have:
- an annual turnover of £36 million or more.
- an annual balance sheet of £18 million or more.
- at least 250 employees registered.
So for most small to medium businesses, this rule will not apply.
Feel free to give us a call if you have any questions on whether this could apply to you.
4) Offences
If a business owner, either by accident or on purpose, does not follow the new changes to proper food waste disposal, they could be liable, and the individual could be fined.
It’s important to note that these changes to food disposal only apply if your food refuse is over 5kg per day.
That’s somewhere between the weight of a couple of laptops and and a bowling ball.
7) What Is the Collection Process?
1) Choose Your Bins
With us at Waste Basics, it’s always a quick and easy process to get your commercial food waste collection organised.
We’re not afraid to show our prices to you, so a full product specification is available on our site if you choose to place the order yourself.
As another option, you can use our free online quote tool that will provide guidance based on the type of waste you need removing (food waste, and any other waste streams your business may need in addition) the size of the bins you require, and the number of bins you need.
We understand that you want the best service for the best price, and we’re here to help you achieve that.
Want some extra guidance from a real human being? Give us a call or request a callback at the best time for you.
2) Arrange Free Delivery of Your Bins
When you choose our waste collection services, you won’t encounter any surprise fees for bin rental or delivery, unlike some other providers.
We are committed to delivering the bins you need for your specific waste streams to your business quickly and at no extra cost.
We understand that convenience is essential, so we will work with you to establish a delivery schedule that suits your business best.
Additionally, we’ll handle any logistical challenges, such as access to locked gates or secured areas, so you can focus on your business operations.
Rest assured, we are dedicated to simplifying the entire process for you, ensuring a smooth and hassle-free collection of your food waste.
3) Fill Up Your Bins
Once your free bins are delivered to your business’ location, go ahead and use them to collect any food waste your business has generated.
4) Get Your Food Waste Collected
We’ll set out a schedule that suits you and your business, based on the amount of waste you produce.
8) How Do I Reduce Food Waste?
There’s lots of ways to be savvy with the amount of food waste your business is producing. Check out our 7 top tips below!
1. Audit Your Waste
Before any changes to your waste organisation, you need to know exactly how much and what waste your business is generating.
Audit your production and process over a set period of time and identify where the food waste is coming from. Are you prepping too much, is there frequent miscommunication between your staff, is your storage working properly, are your customers finishing your food?
We can help you do an audit of the waste your currently producing so that you have the most helpful waste solution. Get in touch today, or request a callback!
2. Manage & Store Stock Effectively
Managing inventory and storing food safely is of the utmost importance to avoid unnecessary food waste.
Make sure your fridges and freezers are in good working condition and food is stored effectively.
Is the same product always getting wasted? Monitor your supply and demand to reduce the amount you order or opt for longer life products.
Use FIFO (first in, first out) to ensure that the products closest to expiry are always being used first.
3. Buy In-Season Produce from Local Businesses
By buying in-season products from local businesses you can reduce food waste as much as possible.
By purchasing in-season produce, can usually ensure that the produce you purchase is fresher and therefore lasts longer.
Buying local means that it has had fewer travel miles, which means it normally reaches your kitchen in a better condition in comparison to food coming from further away – and it’s more environmentally friendly!
4. Make Your Menu as Flexible As Possible
Having more options for your customers usually results in less plate waste and leftovers.
For example, if some of your customers would rather have a salad than fries, by offering them the option to choose you can ensure that the side is more likely to be eaten, and therefore producing less food waste. Don’t over do it with options, however, as you’ll likely encounter overstocking issues.
5. Training Your Staff
A lot of food waste comes from miscommunication about orders.
Having staff that have had better or more consistent training can often result in more confidence and less miscommunication.
Having engaged staff that understand where and how to store food effectively as well as how to dispose of it also has a positive effect on waste.
6. Reusing ‘Waste’
Is the food you’re throwing away really waste?
For example, instead of throwing away animal bones or vegetable peels, you could use them to make stock, or instead of composting your potato peels, you can cook them into potato skins and sell them as a tasty starter.
Make sure you’re constantly evaluating what you’re throwing away and whether it has another purpose.
7. Donations
There are plenty of local charities that will collect excess food and distribute them to your community to reduce food waste.
For example, a bakery that is about to close for the day that has excess bread, pastries and snacks could donate those to the local charity or food bank rather than just disposing them.
8. FAQs
How often should food waste be collected?
Food waste collection frequency depends on factors like the volume of food you need to throw away, the size of your business, and the size of your waste store.
Restaurants often require more frequent collection, while smaller establishments may opt for fortnightly pickups.
In contrast to more unethical waste collection providers that hide the cost of their collection services to make as much money as possible from the businesses they serve, we make our prices readily accessible on our website and offer a user-friendly, free quote tool.
If you’d like to speak to a human about how often your waste should be collected, you can get in touch with us now, or request a callback at the most convenient time.
What is food waste management, and is it important?
Waste management for food is the structured process of handling, reducing, recycling, and disposing of excess food.
It involves the responsible disposal of unavoidable excess.
Proper management of these resources is crucial for several reasons.
It helps reduce the environmental impact of consequences such as greenhouse gas emissions and resource depletion.
Additionally, it can save money for businesses, alleviate food insecurity by redirecting surplus food to those in need, and promote sustainability in the food supply chain.
Who collects food waste?
When it comes to managing your waste, your business has various choices.
You can handle it internally, set up a direct contract with a waste collection provider like Biffa, Veolia, or Viridor, or work with a waste broker – just like us!
Managing waste on your own may save money in the short term, but can lead to compliance issues, consume your time and resources, and result in disruptions.
It’s also worth nothing that you’ll need a special licence to dispose of commercial waste yourself.
Direct contracts with large waste collection providers might bring communication problems, environmental concerns, excess waste issues, and long-term commitments.
Opting to use a waste broker (just like Waste Basics) offers expertise on the proper management of your food waste (or any other waste stream) as well as market insight, cost savings, time efficiency, tailored solutions, and a responsive point of contact.
At Waste Basics, we prioritise transparency, providing clear pricing, and delivering cost-effective waste management solutions.
Whether you prefer an online quote or personalised guidance, we aim to serve your business needs.
How can I dispose of my food waste?
Managing food refuse for businesses is straightforward when you have dedicated bins for each waste stream.
You can see the prices of our food bins through our handy instant quote tool!
It’s important for compliance that you use clear and biodegradable bin bags.
These liners keep odours in check and allow for easy identification of contents at the recycling station.
This allows the food waste to be separated properly and dealt with in line with the new legislation.
Stay informed about local waste regulations, keep bins clean and well-maintained, and store them away from food prep and customer areas.
What happens to the excess food I put in my food waste bin?
When your business puts your leftover organic materials into food bins, they are collected by a waste collector, such as Biffa, Veolia, or Viridor.
The waste collector then takes the excess food waste to a special recycling centre, where it usually goes into 1 of 2 treatment methods.
1. In-Vessel Composting
If the excess food goes to in-vessel composting, the food waste is mixed with garden waste, shredded, and then composted in a closed system for approximately 2-4 weeks at temperatures as high as 70°C.
This accelerates composting and eliminates harmful microbes.
The material is subsequently placed outdoors to mature for an additional 1-3 months, with regular turning and quality checks, before being utilised as a soil conditioner used for growing more food.
2. Anaerobic Digestion
Anaerobic digestion, on the other hand, employs microorganisms to break down food waste, animal manure, slurries, and energy crops in an enclosed system without any oxygen (that’s what anaerobic means).
During this process, methane is released, captured, and converted into biogas for electricity, heat, or transport fuels.
Additionally, it produces a nutrient-rich digestate suitable for agricultural fertilisation and land restoration.
Why is food waste a problem?
Did you know that approximately 8-10% of the world’s greenhouse gases can be attributed to food waste?
In 2021, the UK generated over 9.5 million tons of food waste.
This staggering amount is equivalent to the weight of roughly 731,000 London Double-Decker Buses!
The disposal of edible food costs individual businesses and the economy money, but also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and other negative consequences on the environment.
Recycling food waste is vital because when it ends up in landfills, it decomposes and releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas 25 times more harmful than carbon dioxide.
While some councils incinerate non-recyclable waste to generate energy, food waste’s high water content makes this process less efficient than recycling.
Increasing food waste recycling can have a significant environmental impact, equivalent to removing one in four cars from UK roads in terms of CO2 reduction.
How much food is wasted in the UK?
In 2021, the UK generated over 9.5 million tons of food waste.
This remarkable amount is equivalent to the weight of 146 St Paul’s Cathedrals!
This is a third of all food produced globally, which is enough to feed a minimum of 30 million people each year.
This is with 8.5 million people living in food poverty in the UK right now – which is only increasing month by month.
How can I dispose of my business’ cooking oil?
For used cooking oil, it’s recommended that your business attempts to reuse the oil wherever feasible.
Where this is not possible, it needs to be stored in a secure container and then collected by a licensed waste carrier who will dispose of it at a recycling or food waste disposal facility.
A secure container for cooking oil needs to have a lid, be completely leak-free and water-tight, and secure enough so that no oil will spill out of the container.
In line with the Food Safety Act 1990, you cannot dispose of your business’ cooking oil by disposing it down the drain.
Even if boiling water is poured down the drain with the oil, it can still lead to blockages and other issues that can clog pipes.
Pouring oil down your drain could result in your business facing fines and individuals facing prosecution.
Get in touch with us today and we can answer any questions regarding how to properly dispose of your business’ cooking oil and help you get set up in the proper disposal of your food waste. Alternatively, request a callback at the most convenient time for you.
What do I do with large amounts of food scraps?
Most waste collection suppliers will charge you obscene rates to pick up and dispose of your waste.
Alternatively, you can get in contact with us today to organise the free delivery of one of our food waste bins and organise collection for a guaranteed fantastic price!
We audit our waste suppliers every year to ensure that they are the best possible option for you and your business, complying with all of the relevant legislation, meeting our high environmental standards all whilst ensuring we can keep prices as low as physically possible.
Is it illegal to pour milk down the drain in the UK?
Yes, it’s illegal for businesses to pour expired (or gone-off) milk down the sink in the UK.
It can result in a financial penalty or custodial sentence for business owners.
Milk must be disposed of as a Category 3 ABP (animal by-product) via a licensed waste collector.
Milk is really bad for the environment.
It’s got a really high oxygen demand which means that bacteria feed on it and use up the oxygen that fish and other living creatures would use in the water.
Effectively, by pouring milk down the drain, you could be suffocating and killing entire ecosystems.
Is it illegal to put food waste in a black bin?
According to the Environmental Act 2021, your business could be liable if it does not dispose of food waste properly.
This is applicable to any business that is producing over 5kg of food waste per day, which is the equivalent of roughly a watermelon.
If you don’t have the correct food waste bin to dispose of your food waste in, get in touch with us today and we’re happy to help!
Unlike direct waste suppliers like Biffa, Viridor or Veolia, we will never hide our prices.
We saw how they were manipulating small businesses into paying much more than necessary, which is why from day one we have always been completely transparent about our pricing.
Give one of our friendly team a call, request a callback at a better time for you.
In a rush? Use our free quote tool today!
Can you wrap food waste in newspaper?
You can either use clear, biodegradable food bags to keep your food waste bin clean, or you can wrap your food in newspaper.
We would recommend using clear bin bags as it results in less waste and fewer spills in your bin as you can secure the individual bags shut.
What is Anaerobic Digestion?
Anaerobic digestion is a way of breaking down food waste using tiny microbes without access to any air.
Anaerobic = without oxygen, Digestion = decomposition or extraction of components.
These organisms create a gas called biogas, which is mostly made up of methane, which floats to the top of the digester.
This biogas is then used to generate electricity.
Want to take the hassle out of your food waste management? Get in contact with us today!
