Collecting food waste from small businesses and schools

Increasing numbers of local authorities across the UK are providing food waste collections to households in their area in order to keep food waste out of landfill. Similarly, most large commercial producers of food waste arrange to have it collected separately for recovery by private sector service providers. By contrast, many schools and local businesses are not offered a food waste collection service, and their unsorted mixed waste is sent for disposal even where the food element is a significant proportion of the waste stream and could be recycled.

This situation presents an opportunity for local authorities to increase their commercial waste service provision to include separate food waste. Offering such a service to local schools and businesses can bring environmental and social benefits, and meet the growing expectations of the local community.

This report explores the potential for local authorities to provide schools and businesses with affordable food waste collections. It investigates the main considerations to take into account, and reports on the experiences of authorities and others who have already taken this route.