If you run a restaurant, care home, factory canteen, hotel kitchen or any workplace that produces food waste in England, the rules changed under Simpler Recycling and most businesses with ten or more employees now have a legal duty to separate food waste from general rubbish. Getting this right is where licensed food waste and ABP handling matters, and Martlands provides compliant fallen stock and ABP collection alongside dedicated food waste services across the North West. As a family-run, DEFRA approved business in Burscough, Lancashire, we help food businesses meet both the new separation rules and the longer-standing Animal By-Products Regulations that sit underneath them.
Why Separated Food Waste Is Now a Legal Requirement
The driver behind Simpler Recycling is consistency. For years, different councils ran different schemes, and commercial food waste often ended up mixed into general waste destined for landfill or incineration. The new framework requires businesses to present dry recyclables and food waste separately so that food waste can be sent for treatment such as anaerobic digestion or composting rather than disposal. For most workplaces above the small-business threshold, the duty is already live, and the smallest businesses follow on a later timetable. The practical effect is that a bin of mixed waste with food scraps in it is no longer acceptable, and an inspecting officer can ask to see how your food waste is being separated and collected.
Where Food Waste Becomes an Animal By-Product Matter
Many food businesses do not realise that a large proportion of their food waste is also classed as an animal by-product. Former foodstuffs containing meat, fish, dairy or eggs, and catering waste from kitchens that handle these ingredients, fall under the ABP framework as Category 3 material. That means it cannot simply be tipped into any food waste bin headed anywhere. It must be collected by a licensed operator, transported under the correct documentation, and taken to an approved facility. This is precisely why a licensed collector matters more than a general waste contractor for any premises serving meat or animal-derived products.
What Martlands Provides for Compliant Collection
We supply leak-proof containers suited to kitchen and catering environments, schedule collections to suit your throughput, and provide the documentation you need to prove the waste was handled correctly. Every collection generates a Waste Transfer Note, and where the material is an animal by-product, we also provide a Commercial Document, both of which are essential for audit and inspection. Our service area covers Lancashire, Merseyside, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Cumbria and North Wales, and our proximity to the M6, M58 and M61 corridors means reliable scheduled collection even for high-volume sites. You can learn more on our food waste and ABP collection page or our standalone food waste collection service.
Preparing Your Site Before an Inspection
The simplest way to stay on the right side of the new rules is to set up clear internal separation now, brief your staff on what goes where, and keep your collection paperwork filed in date order. If your kitchen handles raw or cooked meat, treat your food waste as ABP material from the outset rather than risk a mixed-waste problem later. Our guide to disposing of catering waste explains the practical steps in more detail, and businesses across the Liverpool area can read about our local Liverpool food waste collection arrangements.
Getting Set Up
Compliance under Simpler Recycling is not difficult once you have a licensed collector and a clear routine, but it is now genuinely enforceable, and the documentation behind every collection is what protects your business if questions are ever asked. To set up compliant food waste and ABP collection for your premises, or to review whether your current arrangement meets the new separation duty, call Martlands on 01704 776977 and we will tailor a schedule around your site.
