About our Recycling Guide for the Food or Drink Manufacturing sector

This guide is for the person responsible for managing waste at your workplace or site. If you’re a large manufacturer or food or drink business operator with multiple sites, you may have a dedicated Waste Manager. If you’re a smaller operator, this may be the responsibility of the business owner or manager.

This guide only deals with non-hazardous municipal waste – the sorts of waste materials also produced in the home. We won’t be covering how to manage hazardous waste or other specialist wastes that your food or drink business may produce, such as animal by-products (ABPs).

Good to know

There’s plenty of information already out there to help you manage all your waste streams including:

- Government guidance for details the handling and storage of ABPs.

- Guidance on disposing of food waste and catering waste

- The Foodservice FOG Management Guide explains how to manage fats, oils and grease by-products that your business may produce while cleaning equipment or machinery, or from on-site canteens or kitchens.

- WRAP’s Guardians of Grub website includes guidance, tools and resources to help you save money by reducing food waste. You can also learn more about ways WRAP are working with manufacturers to improve efficiency in the supply chain.

- BRCGS Global Food Safety Standard (issue 9) includes guidance for food waste and packaging waste

- Government guidance on the packaging data you need to collect for extended producer responsibility

- NI Water guidance on Trade effluent and how to apply for Trade effluent consent

As waste is a devolved matter, each of the four UK nations has slightly different requirements for recycling. If you’re responsible for managing waste in workplaces in other nations, visit our sister sites in Wales or England. There’s also similar guidance available for Scotland.