Food surplus – the weight of two-and-a-half Eiffel Towers has been collected from hospitality businesses as the sector rises to the challenge of new legislation.
Much of the unwanted food – which includes vegetable peelings and half-eaten desserts – is being converted into renewable energy via anaerobic digestion and used to power homes rather than going to landfill.
Waste management company Biffa has reported a rise of almost 50% of the number of businesses it collects food waste from compared to the same period the last two years previous.
This comes as hospitality businesses across England get to grips with the new Simpler Recycling legislation, which has had a significant impact on the sector since it was introduced last March.
Under the rules, which came into force in England on 31 March 2025, all food scraps and leftovers can no longer be binned with other rubbish, requiring businesses with 10 or more full-time equivalent employees to segregate their food waste from general waste for separate collection.
Biffa CEO Michael Topham says that across the company’s customer base, the number of businesses it collects food waste from has grown by almost 50%.
He says: “That equates to tens of thousands of tonnes of material, roughly the weight of two-and-a-half Eiffel Towers, much of it diverted into anaerobic digestion and composting. If processed into biogas that would be enough to power up to 2,880 homes for a year.”
This new regulation has had significant impact on the hospitality industry, with many large organisations having to adapt rapidly at a national level.
Late guidance on the details of the new rules led to the supply chain having to scale rapidly to meet a surge in demand.
Biffa, who started collecting waste over 100 years ago, has been at the forefront advising customers and helping them get ready for Simpler Recycling.
They have had to develop an increasingly collaborative and bespoke way of working with customers to manage this change.
They are able to offer customers specialist solutions which can lead to long-term cost reduction for businesses despite the potential initial setup costs.
By aligning with new legislation and adopting better waste management practices, companies can lower expenses through reduced, specialised or fewer collections.
Biffa also offers free waste audits to identify opportunities for reducing waste, optimising bin sizes and determining the most cost-effective collection frequencies.
Under Biffa’s ‘Food for Fuel’ initiative, diverting food waste to Biffa’s anaerobic digestion facilities can reduce costs compared to landfill or incineration.
Turning food into power is quite the motivator for staff in restaurants across the country, with one national chain reporting a major increase in food recycling as a result.
One of Biffa’s key hospitality clients, Mitchells & Butlers, made a number of operational changes to prepare for Simpler Recycling, and with Biffa’s support it had everything ready for the rule change and is already recording some impressive results.
Nicola Perrins, Mitchells & Butlers procurement manager, says: “From April to October 2025, Mitchells & Butlers has recycled 535 tonnes more food waste versus the same period last year.”
Biffa initially helped Mitchells & Butlers identify which of its 1,600 sites, including well-known brands such as Toby Carvery, All Bar One, Browns and Ember Inns, needed to take action to upgrade their recycling operations to comply with the new rules and make their recycling operations more effective.
Perrins says: “Biffa helped us see which of our sites needed extra bins or extra recycling waste streams and then helped make that happen.
“We then introduced more internal food waste-recycling bins and helped our team members to make behavioural changes to see those bins were filled.
“Making space for additional bins was a problem for many Mitchells & Butlers’ city-centre venues but Biffa helped here too. A lot of the sites we have in London don’t have any yards to store bins but Biffa liaised with our sited and came up with different options, such as introducing smaller bin sizes and optimising waste-collection services.”
Biffa helped Mitchells & Butlers see where changes had to be made to how food was prepped and leftovers were managed in the kitchen too.
“Six months on the data showed where further opportunities can be unlocked. With the help of Biffa we are reviewing those sites and removing some services, reducing waste-collection costs. We’ve also undertaken site visits with Biffa to resolve local issues.
“Biffa has been brilliant in terms of getting our sites on board with the new regulation,” she says.
Mitchells & Butlers has now hit its 65% recycling target that the government had wanted to achieve nationwide by 2035, so the hospitality firm is way ahead in just under a year.
One of the motivators for staff, says Perrins, is showing them what Biffa does with the food waste. “Biffa takes our food waste back to its various anaerobic digestion plants where it’s used to generate electricity back to the grid.”
Tom Smith, Biffa account director and hospitality sector waste expert, says: “As a leader in sustainable waste solutions, Biffa has played a key role in helping businesses navigate this new legislation.
“We’ve been in consultation with regulatory bodies and lawmakers to ensure that legislation is designed to achieve the intended consequences and provides opportunities, not just rule. Working closely with policymakers, regulators, businesses and local authorities has given us a unique end-to-end view of the scale of the opportunity to separate more recyclable materials from general waste, increasing recyclable resources and reducing the weight of general waste bins.
“National hospitality businesses face unique challenges and their portfolios often include multiple brands with premises in rural and city locations and inconsistent waste materials and volumes: in short, one size does not fit all.
“We have helped our customers seize the opportunity presented by Simpler Recycling and we will continue to do so as part of our Resources and Waste Strategy.”
Food waste: The low down
Simpler Recycling makes it compulsory for all businesses, charities and public sector organisations with more than 10 full-time employees to separate their food waste for recycling, diverting it from landfill.
Organisations with smaller workforces have until 31 March 2027 to comply.
Simpler Recycling applies to any food waste generated by employees, customers or visitors.
You must collect food waste, even if your workplace does not serve food or have a kitchen.
Food waste includes food leftovers, banana skins and apple cores, coffee grounds and tea bags and waste from food preparation, such as onion skins.
Find out more about how Biffa can help your company redistribute, reuse and recycle.