Martlands provides Blackpool food waste collection for hotels, guesthouses, fish and chip shops, bars, cafes and event caterers along the promenade and across the Fylde coast. We are a family-run, DEFRA approved collector based in Burscough, Lancashire, and alongside our fallen stock and ABP collection work we collect food waste from businesses of every size in the county.
Blackpool is not a typical town for food waste. Volumes rise and fall with the season, many premises have little storage space, and much of what resort kitchens throw away is animal by-product material with its own legal controls. Here is what that means for your business.
Blackpool Food Waste Collection in a Seasonal Resort
The legal position for Blackpool businesses
Under Simpler Recycling in England, businesses with ten or more full-time equivalent employees have had to separate food waste from other waste since 31 March 2025, and micro-firms with fewer than ten will follow from 31 March 2027. For a busy hotel or a promenade bar with a large seasonal team, the duty already applies. Smaller guesthouses and cafes have time to prepare, but many are separating food waste now because it keeps general waste bins lighter, cleaner and less attractive to gulls. GOV.UK explains the Simpler Recycling rules for workplaces in England in full.
Our article on what Simpler Recycling means for your premises explains the duty in more detail. In short, food waste needs its own container and its own collection, and you need records showing it is going to an authorised collector.
Why resort kitchen waste counts as Category 3
Catering waste that contains or has been in contact with meat, fish, dairy or eggs is Category 3 animal by-product. That covers breakfast plate waste from a guesthouse, kitchen prep waste from a hotel, burger and hot dog waste from a seafront kiosk and the fish trimmings from a chippy. It must be stored in covered, leak-proof containers and must never be fed to livestock. The government also publishes detailed guidance on animal by-product categories and disposal.
Martlands holds Animal By-Products Licence APB/CCN21/373/8002 and is licensed for Category 1, 2 and 3 material. Our food waste collection service covers mixed kitchen waste, while caterers and processors with heavier streams of meat or fish can use our Category 3 ABP collection.
Hotels, guesthouses and the Winter Gardens calendar
Blackpool has one of the largest concentrations of hotel and guesthouse beds in the country, from big seafront hotels to family-run B and Bs in the streets behind North Shore and South Shore. Breakfast service produces a predictable morning peak of waste, while larger hotels with function suites see spikes around weddings, coach parties and conferences.
The Winter Gardens adds another layer. Major conferences, dance competitions and shows bring thousands of visitors into the town, and hotels and restaurants nearby feel the effect in their bins within a day. If you know a big event is coming, book an extra collection through our KoLeCt system rather than waiting for overflowing containers. Our guide to hotel food waste collection covers separation in front-of-house, kitchen and banqueting areas.
Fish and chip shops, fish waste and cooking oil
Fish and chip shops are among the hardest working kitchens on the Fylde coast, and their waste needs two separate routes. Fish skin, bones, frames and batter scraps with fish in them are Category 3 animal by-product and belong in a sealed food waste container, collected often enough to stop odour and flies, especially in summer heat. Fish waste deteriorates faster than most food waste, so frequency matters more for a chippy than for a cafe.
Used cooking oil and dripping are a different stream. They should be stored in sealed drums and collected by a specialist used cooking oil collector, not poured into food waste bins and never put down drains, where fats cause blockages and sewer problems. Keeping the two streams apart makes both collections cleaner and keeps your paperwork straightforward. Batter and flour waste with no fish or meat in it can go in the food waste container too, but keep packaging, gloves and blue roll out, because contamination is the main reason resort food waste bins are rejected or reclassified. A short briefing at the start of each season, when new staff arrive, prevents most of the problems.
Illuminations season and changing frequency
The Illuminations stretch Blackpool’s season from late August into early November, which means many businesses face high volumes for longer than other resorts. Promenade kiosks, Pleasure Beach area takeaways and Golden Mile bars may need several collections a week through summer and autumn, then far fewer from mid-November until Easter.
We set frequency around your actual trading rather than a single year-round schedule, and we can review it as the season changes. Leak-proof containers with secure lids help in the narrow back alleys and yards common in central Blackpool, where bins are stored close to neighbouring properties and gulls quickly find anything left open.
Blackpool food waste collection for Lytham St Annes, Cleveleys, Fleetwood and the wider Fylde
We serve the whole Fylde coast, from restaurants and tearooms in Lytham St Annes to cafes in Cleveleys and fish merchants and processors around Fleetwood’s historic port. Our vehicles reach the area via the M55 from junction 32 of the M6, with the A585 serving Fleetwood and the A584 running along the coast to Lytham. Businesses inland towards Preston can see our Preston food waste collection page, and food producers with mixed animal by-products can find out more on our Lancashire ABP collection page.
Every collection comes with Commercial Documents and Waste Transfer Notes, backed by Waste Carrier Licence CB/QE5406MT and Site Licence EAWML/100236. The documents are suitable for local authority inspection, ISO 14001 and sustainability reporting, and they give you clear evidence that your food waste separation duty is being met.
To set up food waste collection for your Blackpool hotel, chippy, bar or event business, call Martlands on 01704 776977 or contact us and we will agree containers and a schedule that fits your season.
