Since 31 March 2025, workplaces in England with 10 or more full-time-equivalent employees have been required to arrange separate collection of food waste under the "Simpler Recycling" rules — even if they do not serve food and do not have a kitchen, and no matter how little food waste they produce. From 31 March 2027, the same duty extends to micro-firms with fewer than 10 employees. For hospitality, that second date matters: tens of thousands of small cafés, pubs, bakeries and independent restaurants join the regime at once.
What the rules actually require
The government guidance is short and strict: food waste must be presented for separate collection, dry recyclables (paper, cardboard, plastic, metal, glass) must be separated from residual waste, and workplaces must arrange collection with a carrier registered on the public register of waste carriers. There is no minimum quantity threshold — "this rule applies no matter how little food waste you have." Non-compliance can draw compliance notices from the Environment Agency.
The permitted alternative the guidance names
The guidance explicitly recognises one alternative to having food waste collected: treating it on site. In the government's words, "on-site composting is a permitted alternative to food waste collection," provided the operator follows the rules applicable to aerobic treatment and to composting material with animal content. In other words, English law does not force every kitchen into a bin-and-truck arrangement — processing food residues where they arise is a recognised compliance route.
Where aerobic digestion fits
Griffon machines process food residues by aerobic digestion with enzymatic hydrolysis — a biological aerobic process in the same family the guidance contemplates for on-site treatment, running continuously at the point where residues arise. For a kitchen, the practical effect is fewer or no food-waste bins, no odour storage between collections, and a measured record of quantities processed — the kind of documentation that separate-collection reporting increasingly expects.
One honest caveat, because regulations reward precision: the English guidance names on-site composting as the permitted alternative and does not explicitly address systems that discharge treated liquid to the drain. Scotland and Northern Ireland restrict food-waste maceration to sewer; England has no equivalent explicit restriction, but any operator considering liquid discharge should confirm arrangements with their water company and waste collector. We state this plainly because our clients ask — and because a supplier who glosses over it is not doing engineering.
What a hospitality operator should do before March 2027
First, measure: a week of weighing food residues tells you which capacity class you are in. Second, price the default route: separate food-waste collection is a recurring cost per lift, and contracts signed in a rush before a deadline are rarely the cheapest. Third, compare the on-site route: our ROI calculator takes your daily volume and returns the payback arithmetic, and our technology comparison sets out the categories side by side. The 2027 date is fixed; the cost of meeting it is not.
Source: gov.uk — Simpler Recycling: workplace recycling in England (accessed 20 July 2026). Regulatory obligations depend on your circumstances; confirm specifics with your waste collector and, for any discharge arrangement, your water company.