Martlands provides Lancaster butchers waste collection for high street butchers, farm shop cutting rooms and game dealers across Lancaster, Morecambe, Carnforth and the Lune valley. We are a family-run, DEFRA approved collector based in Burscough, and our fallen stock and ABP collection work across Lancashire means we understand how meat moves from local farms to local counters.
Butchers waste is regulated animal by-product, not general waste. Bones, fat, trim and out-of-date meat have to be stored, carried and processed under ABP rules, and the category of each material decides where it can go. This guide covers what Lancaster district butchers need to get right.
How Lancaster Butchers Waste Collection Works Around the Lune Valley
Local meat, local butchers and what they produce
The Lancaster area has a strong tradition of selling meat from nearby farms. Lamb and beef come off the Lune valley pastures around Caton, Hornby and Halton, and from the Forest of Bowland uplands to the south east, while farm shops in the villages run their own cutting rooms alongside the counter. In Lancaster itself and along the Morecambe and Carnforth high streets, traditional butchers break down carcasses and primals every week. The government also publishes detailed guidance on animal by-product categories and disposal.
That mix produces a steady stream of bone, fat, sinew, skin and trim, plus unsold product at the end of its shelf life. Farm butcheries often produce larger, irregular volumes after a batch of their own stock comes back from the abattoir, which makes a fixed weekly arrangement less useful than one that flexes. Our butchers waste collection service is set up for exactly that pattern.
Category 3 trim and bone, and when Category 1 applies
Most butchers waste is Category 3 animal by-product. It comes from animals passed fit for human consumption at slaughter, so trim, bones, fat and unsold meat all fall into this lower-risk category. Our Category 3 ABP collection covers this material, collected in sealed, leak-proof containers and documented on every visit.
The exception is specified risk material. In cattle, the vertebral column from animals over 30 months is SRM, and only premises authorised to remove it may do so. Older sheep and goats carry their own SRM rules, which are normally dealt with at the abattoir before carcasses reach the shop, but a butcher who handles any SRM must keep it completely separate, stain it where required and send it for Category 1 ABP collection. The rule that catches people out is mixing. If SRM goes into the same bin as ordinary bone, the whole container becomes Category 1, which is more costly to process and harder to justify at inspection.
Game in season
Lancaster sits close to some of the best known grouse moors in England on the Bowland fells, and pheasant, partridge and venison all pass through local butchers and game dealers through the autumn and winter. Grouse shooting opens on 12 August, partridge on 1 September and pheasant on 1 October, so many shops see game waste grow sharply in the final months of the year.
Feathers, heads, feet and paunch material from wild game that has been processed for human consumption are animal by-products and should go into the same controlled stream as other butchery waste, never into general waste or the garden. Game waste is also bulky and smells quickly, so tell us when your season starts and we can increase collection frequency before the bins fill.
Storage, frequency and the summer problem
ABP regulations require material to be stored in covered, leak-proof, clearly labelled containers that prevent access by vermin, birds and pets. For most shops that means keeping bins in a chiller or a cool, secure back yard. Frequency should be decided by temperature and volume rather than habit, because a bin of fat and bone that is fine for a week in February can become a fly and odour problem in three days in July.
We agree a pattern that matches your throughput and the space you have. Collections are booked and managed through our KoLeCt system, so extra pick-ups ahead of Christmas or a busy barbecue weekend can be arranged without a scramble. Our guide to Lancashire butchers waste collection covers the wider county arrangements, and shops further south may find the Preston butchers waste collection page relevant.
Environmental health inspections in Lancaster district
Food businesses in Lancaster, Morecambe, Carnforth and Heysham are inspected by Lancaster City Council environmental health officers, while shops a little further south, such as those in Garstang, fall under Wyre Council. Either way, the inspector will look at how animal by-products are segregated from food, how containers are labelled and stored, and whether you can show where waste goes.
The paperwork answers that last question. Martlands provides Commercial Documents and Waste Transfer Notes with every collection, and we hold Waste Carrier Licence CB/QE5406MT, Site Licence EAWML/100236 and Animal By-Products Licence APB/CCN21/373/8002. Keep the documents on file in date order, because a gap of several weeks with no record of a collection invites awkward questions. Approved cutting plants may also find the documents useful for retailer audits and ISO 14001.
Lancaster butchers waste collection routes across the district
Our vehicles reach Lancaster via the M6, with junctions 33, 34 and 35 serving the city, the Bay Gateway to Morecambe and Heysham, and Carnforth respectively. The A6 links Galgate, Lancaster and Carnforth, and the A683 runs up the Lune valley towards Hornby and Kirkby Lonsdale. That network allows us to serve town-centre shops with tight rear access and farm butcheries on narrow lanes within the same round.
Because Martlands also handles farm work in the area, butchers who sell their own stock may find our Lancaster fallen stock collection useful on the farming side, and processors with mixed streams can look at our Lancashire ABP collection service.
To set up butchers waste collection anywhere in the Lancaster district, call Martlands on 01704 776977 or contact us and we will agree containers, frequency and documentation for your shop.
