GuidesEngland
Recycling records for restaurants and pubs
Last reviewed 25 October 2026
Restaurants and pubs in England usually produce food waste from the kitchen, glass and other dry recycling, paper and card, and general waste. Food waste stays in its own collection. Plastic, metal and glass may be collected together. Paper and card, including cardboard packaging, stay separate unless the collector has a written assessment.
Kitchen waste and the front of house
Restaurants and pubs usually produce food waste in the kitchen and from plates, plus glass, cans, plastic, paper and card, and general waste. Food waste from both the kitchen and the plates stays out of the dry recycling. You can record them as one food stream if one collection takes both.
Glass may travel with plastic and metal. It does not have to sit in a bin of its own under the England rules. Paper and card, including cardboard packaging and menus you are discarding, stay separate unless a written assessment is on file.
When someone else owns the bins
A brewery, landlord or pub company may supply the bins. You still separate the waste the premises produce. Ask for written confirmation of the food, dry recycling, paper and card, and general collections, and file it with the site.
If the site is in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland, read the guide for that nation. The streams and dates there are different. The free check on SortProof uses the England rules.
In short
- Treat each premises as a site, even when one business runs several.
- Record kitchen food waste separately from plate waste if both arise, and keep both out of the dry recycling.
- Ask the collector how glass is taken. It can travel with other dry recycling.
- Keep paper and card separate, or file the collector’s written assessment.
- Keep the collection contract or the landlord’s written confirmation with the site.
Questions
Does glass have to be on its own?
Plastic, metal and glass may be collected together as dry recycling. Paper and card are the stream that stays separate unless there is a written assessment.
Who is responsible if the brewery or landlord supplies the bins?
You still separate the waste you produce. Keep their written confirmation of the arrangements.
Related guides
SortProof stores the record you enter. It is guidance, not a certificate, and it is not issued by Defra or the Environment Agency.