Business & Industry
Carla Brian
Head of Partnerships, Biffa
All businesses in England with 10 or more employees must now separate food waste from their general waste. No matter the amount of food waste, there needs to be a separate bin and collection.
Simpler Recycling, which became law on 31 March, saw food waste collections become mandatory alongside the separation of other recycling materials.
Simpler Recycling proven effective
Although this means sourcing a new bin collection and some effort separating, it’s actually a great thing for two reasons. One, there will be less organic waste going to landfill, which means fewer carbon emissions. Two, it can reduce the overall weight of your general waste and mitigate some of the additional costs, as general waste disposal is more expensive.
Although Simpler Recycling has just started, we know this works due to similar regulations in Wales with the Workplace Recycling scheme. Biffa’s food waste collection volume increased by over two-thirds (67%) when comparing the same month year on year before the regulations went live.
There will be less organic
waste going to landfill, which
means fewer carbon emissions.
Cutting emissions through Simpler Recycling
If England saw a similar impact, Biffa analysts have calculated we could offset more than 8 million kilograms of extra carbon dioxide equivalent (Co2e) by following the Simpler Recycling regulations. That’s just our own business customers.
When organic waste is disposed of in a black bin bag in general waste, it either goes to an Energy Recovery Facility or even landfill. This method of disposal creates higher emissions than processing using anaerobic digestion, which transforms inedible food waste into biogas. This is then transformed into a clean source of electricity.
Food waste energy potential
If we experienced a 67% increase in inedible food waste volume collected by Biffa in England, it would be enough to charge over 695 million smartphones, power 1,155 homes for a year or drive 21.9 million miles (that’s like driving the circumference of the earth 880 times).
The research comes with the launch of the Simpler Recycling Food Waste Calculator. Businesses can discover how much food waste they produce each year how much energy it could create.
Just one standard wheelie bin full of food waste collected and converted to energy every week would see a business recycle 4,160kg of food waste, which, when converted to energy, offsets 863kg of carbon, charges 57,000 smartphones or could power a car to drive from Lisbon to Warsaw.
