Macerators and Liquidizing Digesters Banned
All Food Waste To Be Presented Separately For Collection
All Organisations Generating Food Waste Affected

The Environment Act 2021 passed in November 2021 and the food waste disposal rules are changing. The implications for any organisation generating food waste in England are sizeable. So what’s going to happen?


Macerators and Liquidizing Digesters Banned
It’s been a long time coming! In the Environment Act 2021 food waste must be treated differently in England. The unsustainable and environmentally unfriendly practice of tipping food waste into a macerator bench unit where it is chopped up and flushed (using high volumes of water) into drain systems will finally end. It has been illegal in Scotland since 2014, Wales since 2016 and Northern Ireland since 2017. Finally, England will follow suit. All food waste will have to be presented separately for collection. That will affect hospitals, hotels, restaurants, pubs, prisons, military barracks, universities, schools and any establishment generating food waste. The same goes for liquidizing digesters which use enzymes and hot water (lots of it) to turn food waste into mush before discharging to sewers. The original date for this to go live was sometime in 2023.In October 2023, the Government announced that this would now definitely happen before 31st March 2026. There was overwhelming support for the law when it was passed by all parties, so no-one expects this to be delayed further.

All Food Waste Must Be Presented Separately For Collection
If you don’t do it already, your food waste will need to go into separate wheelie bins for collection as a distinct waste stream. It won’t be able to go into general waste and it won’t be able to be mixed with other recyclables listed as glass, metal, paper, cardboard or plastics. And you’ll start to get bills for food waste disposal, another overhead cost. Not only that, there are provisions to complete an annual food waste return detailing how much you have disposed of.

But putting wet food waste in bins is a problem in itself with risks of vermin and pests, particularly in hot weather, the requirement to have them uplifted every other day at least and smells. All things to avoid.

So What To Do?

Don’t be caught out.
1. Start planning now to put systems in place to make sure you comply and avoid hefty fines. There are no details on the size of fines yet but in Scotland the fixed penalty notices for non-compliance started at £10,000.
2. Measure your food waste by weighing it for a week or two to understand how much you generate and estimate costs.
3. If you use a macerator or liquidizing digester you’ll need to take it out of service and consider alternatives to reduce the cost of food waste disposal.

In Scotland in 2014, when the same rules came in, hospitals (the largest commercial producers of food waste) considered alternative technologies to comply and reduce disposal costs. Most chose the Eco-Smart Food Waste Dryer. It sterilizes food waste in an overnight drying cycle and reduces the volume of food waste by over 80%. The wet, yucky food waste is turned into a dry, sterile powder, with no pathogens, virtually no smell: a hygienic solution saving thousands a year in disposal costs. The dry powder goes predominantly to anaerobic digestion plants where it is used to generate energy from biogas.

Here is a link to the Environment Act 2021 - Section 57 which covers the separation of food waste.

For more information on the steps you can take to comply and the Eco-Smart Food Waste Dryer contact us the UK number above or complete the Contact Form.

Related News Stories You might like