Companies urged to get ready for food waste changes

Businesses should now bw ready for the biggest changes to the way food waste is handled in a decade.

Designed to improve the nation’s environmental performance, the Simpler Recycling legislation came into effect across England from 31 March. It requires food waste to be separated from other general waste streams before being collected.

All businesses employing 10 people or more, as well as prisons, hospitals, care homes, office blocks, independent schools and colleges, garages and transport hubs, that generate more than 5kg of food waste per week, will need to comply.

Countrystyle Recycling, the Kent-based family-owned waste management company, is giving away a free guide to help businesses across Kent and the South East navigate the new rules and help them prepare for the changes.

When the legislation comes in, all businesses will need to separate their waste into general waste (non-recyclables), food waste, and dry recyclables (paper and card, plastic, glass and metals) with the aim to reduce contamination, increase recycling rates and reduce landfill.

Martin Heathcote, Chief Executive of Countrystyle Recycling, said: “The changes are a step in the right direction in terms of reducing our environmental impact and we’re here to support businesses through the process.

“The biggest change under the new legislation is for businesses employing more than 10 people that create more than 5kg of food waste per week, as they will have to separate it from their dry recycling and general waste.

“Businesses will need to do an audit of their waste, plan for additional bins and budget for new collection services while also training their staff and partnering with a licensed provider, if they are going to be compliant.”

Countrystyle’s almost 500-strong team operates a fleet of 294 commercial vehicles including service vans, skip loaders, hook loaders, dustcarts and articulated tractor units. It currently collects more than 70,000 tonnes of food waste and is committed to helping its customers make a seamless transition to the new regulations.

Food waste collected in Kent goes to Blaise Farm, near Kings Hill, which is owned by Countrystyle’s parent company Heathcote Holdings. It is then loaded into an anaerobic digester and the food waste generates gas which is turned into electricity and put back into the National Grid. The remaining digestate, which is heavy in nutrients, is used by FGSAgri, another of Heathcote Holdings’ subsidiaries, and applied to farmland as fertiliser across Kent.

The food waste collected by Countrystyle is also combined with garden waste and turned into compost by another sister company, Envar, based in Cambridgeshire.

Martin Heathcote added: “Collecting and processing food waste is a vital part of the country’s efforts to reduce our environmental impact. Thanks to the combined efforts of Heathcote Holdings, we can recycle and repurpose it for energy, fertiliser or compost and stop it going to landfill where it generates harmful methane gas.”

To download the free guide and find out more about how the changes to the food waste legislation, visit www.countrystylerecycling.co.uk/food-regulations-guide/.