93% of operators concerned about new food waste legislation

93% of hospitality leaders say they are concerned about the impact the upcoming ‘Simpler Recycling’ legislation in England will have on their businesses, according to a new survey.

From 31 March 2025, the legislation, being brought in under the Environment Act 2021, will require all businesses with 10 or more employees to separate dry mixed recyclables and food waste from their general waste, prior to collection from their premises.

The survey of 250 hospitality businesses, conducted by waste and recycling manufacturer Rubbermaid Commercial Products (RCP) through Censuswide, showed that while 88% are already separating some waste for recycling, only 34% are currently separating food waste.

With the food waste recycling mandate meaning hospitality is set to be one of the sectors most impacted by the legislation, respondents reported key concerns about the effect of the legislation on their businesses.

Furthermore, just 62% of hospitality SMEs (<250 employees) were aware of the changes they need to make, compared with 92% of larger hospitality business (250+ employees) and 78% of SMEs in other sectors.

For large hospitality businesses, the top concern was the timescales to make the changes (55%), followed by cost (51%) and lack of knowledge (49%). Restaurants in particular are worried about timescales (72%), while bars showed concern about a lack of knowledge (64%), and catering companies (55%) and fast food restaurants (54%) said they are most worried about reputation.

While SMEs registered a lower level of concern than larger businesses – 78% versus 97% – (with lower awareness of the legislation), the top concern for these respondents was the cost to implement the changes needed (36%). 31% were worried about the timescales needed to make the changes, with over a fifth saying they thought they’d either miss the 31 March deadline or they did not yet have a planned timescale to make the changes.

RCP’s sustainability and communications manager Adriana Olaya Rodriguez said: “Of the hospitality and foodservice businesses we surveyed, 89% said that making recycling improvements was important to them. This is reflective of the businesses we’ve worked with over the past few years, many of which have set themselves ambitious environmental targets with recycling efforts playing a critical role.

“Despite this, it’s clear that the majority of businesses in the sector have got work to do over the next few months to upgrade their recycling infrastructure and get compliant with the new legislation, especially in relation to food waste recycling.”

Acknowledging that the hospitality sector has been hit hard in recent years following the pandemic and subsequent hike in operational costs, Rodriguez advised: “Evidenced by the successes of the businesses we’ve worked with, introducing efficient multi-stream recycling throughout a venue actually reduces waste management costs, so the initial investment pays off in the long-term – one leading UK hotel chain we work with is projected to reduce waste management costs by 29% while improving recycling rates by 25%.

“When you consider the risk of potential fines for not complying with the new rules, the cost benefit only increases.”

To support businesses with getting ready for the changes, RCP has created a series of free resources, including a legislation explainer guide.