Regulation, procurement documents and everyday kitchen practice use different words for the same material. Because legal obligations attach to definitions, it is worth being precise about three terms: bio-waste, food waste and food residues.
Bio-waste is the term of EU waste law. Article 3(4) of the Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC, as amended) defines it as:
"biodegradable garden and park waste, food and kitchen waste from households, offices, restaurants, wholesale, canteens, caterers and retail premises and comparable waste from food processing plants"
Source: Directive 2008/98/EC, Art. 3(4), consolidated text
Food waste is narrower. Article 3(4a) defines it as all food — as defined in Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 — that has become waste. Garden and park material is bio-waste but not food waste.
Food residues is the engineering term Griffon uses. It describes the organic fraction a professional kitchen generates at the point of origin — trimmings, peelings, plate returns, expired preparation — before it enters any waste stream. What the directive calls bio-waste is, at its point of origin in a professional kitchen, food residues. That point of origin is exactly where Griffon treats them.
The same category also appears as organic waste or bio waste in tenders and everyday usage — all describing edible and inedible residues from food preparation and service.
Article 22 of the Waste Framework Directive required Member States to ensure that by 31 December 2023 bio-waste is either separated and recycled at source or collected separately and not mixed with other waste. The directive itself, in other words, recognises two compliance paths — and treatment at the place of origin is one of them.
Croatian implementation follows the same logic. The Waste Management Act (Zakon o gospodarenju otpadom, NN 84/21, 142/23) obliges the producer of bio-waste to hand it over separately to an authorised collector or to recycle it at the place of origin (Art. 22). On-site aerobic digestion of food residues operates within that second path; specific obligations always depend on national and local implementation.
The 2025 amendment to the Waste Framework Directive introduced the first binding EU food waste reduction targets, to be met by 31 December 2030 against a 2021–2023 baseline: 10% in processing and manufacturing, and 30% per capita across retail, restaurants, food services and households. The obligation sits with Member States — which is why national rules for kitchens, hotels and institutions are tightening across the EU. Analysis and implications: EU food waste targets — what changes for professional kitchens.
A material becomes waste at the moment it is discarded into a waste stream. Griffon machines are installed at the point where the material arises and process it continuously, so the working input of the machine is the kitchen's food residues — not the content of a waste container. The terminology is deliberate engineering precision, not branding: it describes where in the material flow the treatment happens. In regulatory documents, procurement and permits, the same material is correctly referred to as bio-waste or food waste, as defined above.
Yes. Article 3(4) of Directive 2008/98/EC expressly includes food and kitchen waste from restaurants, canteens, caterers and retail premises in the definition of bio-waste.
EU law recognises it: Article 22 requires separation and recycling at source or separate collection. Croatian law likewise allows the producer to recycle bio-waste at the place of origin. Specific obligations depend on national implementation — see EU regulation.
By 31 December 2030: −10% in processing and manufacturing and −30% per capita in retail, restaurants, food services and households, against the 2021–2023 baseline (2025 amendment to Directive 2008/98/EC).
Bio-waste is broader — it includes biodegradable garden and park waste alongside food and kitchen waste. Food waste covers food, as defined in Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, that has become waste. Food residues from a professional kitchen fall under both once discarded.