Restaurant Waste Collection & Disposal
It’s estimated that the foodservice industry in the UK produces more than 400,000 tonnes of avoidable waste each year. This waste brings huge social, environmental, and economic consequences. Restaurant waste management is therefore incredibly important to ensure food and other waste types your restaurant generates are managed correctly and efficiently.
Commercial restaurant waste is unavoidable, whether it’s leftover food from customers, broken glasses, or damaged kitchen equipment. From April 2025, restaurants with over 10 full-time staff must ensure food, glass, paper, and mixed recyclables are collected separately to adhere to Simpler Recycling.
At Business Waste, we can help you develop an effective restaurant waste management plan, including collections and disposal from anywhere in the UK. Call 0800 211 8390 or contact us online for a free quote for restaurant waste removal.
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Simpler Recycling for
restaurants and cafes
We’re fully committed to reducing the impact that excessive waste has on the environment. This includes food waste from restaurants, which costs businesses unnecessary money to send to landfill. Restaurant food waste is organic and can still be used rather than rotting in landfill.
Restaurants, cafes, bars, and takeaways must separately collect food waste, glass bottles and jars, paper and card, and mixed recyclables from general waste as of April 2025. A licensed carrier must be used, and separate waste streams cannot be mixed with general waste.
For restaurants, this typically looks like:
- Separate food waste bins in the kitchen for prep waste and plate waste
- Separate glass recycling bins for bar and cellar operations
- Separate cardboard collection from delivery areas
- Mixed recycling bins for plastic packaging, cans, and cartons
We provide the right bins, suitable collections, and Waste Transfer Notes. You’ll be fully compliant with the latest Simpler Recycling regulations.
Once your waste leaves the restaurant, it may be recycled in a number of ways.
- Food waste: composting or anaerobic digestion (broken down to create biogas that’s used to generate renewable energy, and biofertiliser that can be spread on fields)
- Glass waste: sorted by colour, cleaned, crushed into cullet, heated, and moulded into new glass products
- Cardboard, paper and plastics: converted into new materials
Restaurant bins
Having the right restaurant bin for each type of waste your company produces is vital for proper storage, recycling, and disposal. There are a range of restaurant bins you should have onsite as part of an effective waste management plan. These include one or more of the following:
- Food bin – a 120 or 240 litre wheelie bin can be used to hold just food waste. It’s possible to get modified food bins with a hatch specifically designed to accept food waste and protect against pests such as gulls or rodents.
- Cardboard bin – keep recyclable cardboard materials separate. Restaurants that use lots of cardboard may want to use a baler to compress cardboard for convenient storage.
- Glass bin – 120 and 240 litre wheelie bins can be used to store glass of all colours for recycling.
- Aluminium can bin – metal cans for ingredients should be kept in separate bins for recycling.
- General waste bin – non-recyclable or reusable waste can go in a general waste bin. It’s important to educate your colleagues on what is recyclable to reduce the amount of recyclable waste going to landfill.
Restaurant bins are available in many sizes to suit everything from small cafes to large gastropubs. Find the best bins for your restaurant to ensure your waste ends up in the right place.
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120L wheelie bin
A small two-wheel bin that can store just food or glass waste, or use it for general waste and recyclables.
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240L wheelie bin
The standard size wheelie bin suitable as a restaurant food waste bin or for storing a wide range of other rubbish.
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1100L wheelie bin
This large four-wheel bin is ideal for restaurants that generate lots of cardboard, packaging, and general waste.
Restaurant waste
collection
At Business Waste, you can expect competitive pricing, reliable waste collections, a commitment to achieving 0% to landfill, free wheelie bins and a service on which you can rely. We’ll provide a free duty of care certificate for all your waste collections and replacement to damaged bins.
We work around your restaurant and arrange collections to suit your requirements. Whether you need daily, weekly, or fortnightly restaurant waste collections, our team is on-hand to help you meet your food waste management targets. We offer national waste collections, and no job is too big or too small.
Whether you’re a small village café or a city centre restaurant, and wherever you’re based in the UK, we have professional waste management services local to you. Our licensed waste carriers will collect waste from your restaurant and transport to a nearby facility for recycling or appropriate disposal.
Get a free quote today for restaurant waste collection. Speak to one of our friendly, expert team who can answer any questions you may have and advise on the best bins and collection schedule for your restaurant. Contact us online or call 0800 211 8390 today.
Read Our Customer Reviews
Efficient communication
We have worked alongside Business Waste for quite a few months now, and their efficiency with communication and resolving queries is great. Allie especially is a pleasure to liaise with. Great company from a B2B perspective
Flo Bolton-Smith
The real definition of service
The service received was simply outstanding. Business Waste gave good advice and a demonstration of a willingness to help and get me a solution.
Gregory Harrand
Great company
Great company to deal with, special thanks to Danielle who is always on the ball and sort any issues out instantly with proactive involvement with follow up phone calls and emails. I would recommend her to be the next PM to get things done, oh and as a company to deal with all the waste needs for your business.
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Excellent service set up process
I was impressed by the speed of setting up the service. I made a single phone call to Business Waste and all the necessary paperwork was done efficiently.
Yahya Saeed
Supporting multi-stream waste management
for a restaurant
The Suya Factory is a restaurant preparing and serving fresh food daily, with a steady flow of customers and deliveries. In this environment, waste handling needs to be structured, reliable, and capable of handling multiple waste streams.
The site produces a mix of general waste, food waste, glass, and dry mixed recycling from packaging, ingredients, and day-to-day service. With limited space and a need to keep back-of-house areas clear, waste must be separated properly and collected on a consistent schedule.
We introduced a multi-bin setup to match the waste profile:
- 1100-litre general waste bin
- 1100-litre mixed recycling bin (paper, card, plastic, cans)
- 240-litre glass bin
- 240-litre food waste bin
All supported by fortnightly collections, giving the site enough capacity across each stream without over-servicing.
The result is a clear, structured system that keeps waste organised and easy to manage. Staff can separate materials correctly, collections are reliable, and all waste is handled in line with duty-of-care requirements.
How does restaurant
waste collection work?
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Select your free bins
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Arrange delivery
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Fill up your bin
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Get your business waste collected
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Restaurant food waste
collection and disposal
Not all restaurant waste is food waste, but it’s undoubtedly the single largest stream they produce. UK restaurants generate an estimated 920,000 tonnes of food waste per year, including kitchen preparation waste (peelings, trimmings, unusable stock), plate waste from served meals, and out-of-date food.
Business Waste provides food waste bins for commercial kitchens, with regular collections that send food to anaerobic digestion facilities where to be converted to biogas and biofertiliser. This outcome supports our zero-waste to landfill objective.
We’ll help with your Simpler Recycling obligation by providing the right bins and collection schedules for your premises size and food service type.
What happens to
restaurant food waste?
Food waste in restaurants – such as prep waste, plate waste, and spoilage – can go to an anaerobic digestion plant. Organic waste is collected from restaurants and delivered to a handling system. Anaerobic digestion is a process that involves breaking down organic matter without the need for oxygen. Instead, bacteria break the material down.
Restaurant food waste is placed in an anaerobic digester. From here, it can be converted to create fertiliser, compost, or bedding – or alternatively, it can be sent on again to a biogas handling system. The biogas produced by the food waste can be used to generate heat, electricity, or vehicle fuel.
Types of restaurant waste
Restaurants produce several types of waste during their daily operations. Food waste in restaurants is the most common type, but there are various other kinds of rubbish related to it. The most regular types of restaurant waste and examples include:
- Preparation waste – peelings or off-cuts (like potato skins or fat trimmed from cuts of meat).
- Spoilage – items past their use-by date or ruined in the kitchen.
- Plate waste – leftover food that comes back from the plates of customers.
- Avoidable waste – excess waste generated in error (for example, producing too large a portion of a dish).
- Packaging – cardboard, plastic, glass, aluminium, and other packaging materials for ingredients.
- Old uniforms – general wear-and-tear on chef’s whites and waiting staff uniforms.
- Oil waste – cooking and other edible oils leftover during food preparation.
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Food waste
Leftover food, out-of-date ingredients, and prep waste all require separate collection under Simpler Recycling rules.
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Glass waste
Wine, beer, spirits, soft drink bottles and more. Once again, these will require separate bins and collection under Simpler Recycling.
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Packaging waste
Plastic containers, cling film, polystyrene, and other food-grade plastic packaging.
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Cardboard waste
Delivery boxes, napkins, and menus should all be separated from general waste.
Restaurant waste FAQs
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Why is it important for a restaurant to have a good waste management plan?
There are many reasons. Firstly, your customers care. Studies show that organisations with a sustainable approach to food waste management are likely to outperform those who don’t. With a huge customer focus on sustainability, more restaurants are implementing sustainable waste management policies.
A responsible food waste management policy also benefits the environment. If your restaurant reduces the amount of food waste it sends to landfill, it will cut the amount of carbon dioxide emitted. You could also save money with a food waste management scheme that reduces the amount of overall waste you produce.
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What laws govern restaurant waste management?
In the UK, waste policy is driven by the existing EU Waste Framework Directive. This directive prioritises the prevention of waste, the redistribution of usable products, recycling, recovery, and disposal as the least-preferred means of dealing with waste.
MPs attempted to introduce a Food Waste Reduction Bill to parliament in 2015. However, the bill has yet to make any further progress. Instead, the government currently focuses on voluntary initiatives to reduce food waste, as opposed to taking a regulatory approach.
These voluntary initiatives are primarily led by the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) and the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
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How can you reduce waste in a restaurant?
There are a few steps you can take to reduce waste in a restaurant:
- Avoid over-buying
- Correctly store food
- Practice regular stock rotation
- Label items correctly
- Inspect all deliveries
- Portion control
- Donate excess ingredients
- Incorporate leftovers
- Compost food waste
- Offer doggy bags
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How often should waste be removed from food production areas?
You should remove waste from food production areas at least once a day and every time the container is full. Food waste should be removed from production areas safely and efficiently to keep production areas in a clean and hygienic condition.
Regular removal of waste from food production areas in restaurants avoids any nasty smells developing and reduces the risk of contaminating foodstuffs being prepared.
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How much food waste do restaurants produce?
In the UK restaurants produce 199,100 tonnes of food waste every year. This has a value of around £682 million, so comes at a significant cost for restaurants. While some of this is plate waste sent back by customers, research also suggests that between four and 10% of restaurant food waste occurs before reaching the customer.
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How do restaurants dispose of waste?
Restaurants must use an EA-registered waste carrier for all of their waste collections. Owners have a Duty of Care to ensure waste is stored correctly before collection. Keeping a documented trail of Waste Transfer Notes is important for this reason.
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How often should bins be emptied in a restaurant?
This depends entirely on the size of the restaurant, the number of customers you’re serving and the waste streams you are producing.
Usually, food waste bins should be emptied at least daily. This helps to prevent odour, deter pest activity and ensure hygiene standards are maintained. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) hygiene regulations instruct that food waste must be stored in a way that prevents pest access and contamination.
We’ll review your restaurant activity and guide on the emptying of bins if required.
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How do you get rid of large amounts of food waste from a restaurant?
All food waste rules detailed on this page apply to large volume collections.
If your restaurant produces large volumes of food waste, we can provide bins sized from 120L to 1,100L. We’ll set a collection schedule that suits your volume, this can be daily, weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. If you produce large volumes of liquid, we can arrange bulk liquid collection by tanker.
Get a fast and free quote
Get a fast FREE quote for restaurant waste disposal
- Free quote within 1 hour
- Any type of restaurant waste
- FREE bins and delivery
- We cover all of the UK
Published 13th April 2022 by Mark Hall. Last modified 9th July 2026