Compliance · 2026
Food waste disposal in a new commercial kitchen: what the 2025 sewer ban changed
Grinding food waste into the drain has been prohibited for most commercial kitchens in England since 31 March 2025, and in Wales since April 2024. If you are designing or refurbishing a kitchen in Kent, the food-waste route needs building into the plan from the survey, not bolted on at handover.
What changed
The rules on food waste to drain, plainly
The Water Industry Act 1991 has always said you must not discharge anything into a sewer that is likely to injure the drain or interfere with treatment. What changed recently is that food waste was named as an offence in its own right, with the environmental sentencing guidelines and water-company enforcement to back it up.
England, from 31 March 2025
Under the Environment Act 2021 and the Simpler Recycling reforms, most non-domestic premises with ten or more employees can no longer dispose of food waste through the drainage system. Businesses with fewer than ten employees have until 31 March 2027. Food waste must be source-separated and collected by a licensed carrier for anaerobic digestion or composting.
Wales, from 6 April 2024
The Workplace Recycling Regulations went further. Discharging any food waste, including its liquid derivatives, into the sewer is banned outright. Macerators, dewaterers and enzyme digesters are all prohibited as a route to sewer.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
Similar bans have been running for years under the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 and the Food Waste Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015. Source separation and licensed collection are the norm.
The remote-site exception
In England there is a narrow exemption for sites where kerbside food-waste collection is genuinely not possible, for example remote rural premises. A disposal unit may still be used if it causes no blockage and every other requirement is met. This is a last resort, not a design shortcut.
Design implications
What this means for a new kitchen in Kent
Food waste is a stream to be handled, stored, chilled and collected, not one to be washed away. That has real consequences for the layout, the drainage schedule and the mechanical services drawing.
Space for source separation at the pass and the wash-up
Colour-coded bins next to prep benches and the wash-up, sized to the volume you actually generate. Waste containers get labelled and never share with dry recyclables or general waste.
A chilled food-waste store
For most sites we design in a small chilled bin store, sized to the collection frequency, so waste does not sit warm and attract flies and vermin between lifts. A weekly lift for a fifty-cover restaurant is not the same job as a twice-weekly lift for a hospital.
A licensed waste-carrier contract in place from day one
Food waste has to go to anaerobic digestion or composting via a licensed carrier. This gets set up before the kitchen opens, with the duty of care paperwork on file. The EHO will look for it.
A dewaterer only where the numbers back it
In England, Scotland and Northern Ireland a dewaterer can still be specified, but only where it separates one hundred per cent of the solid food waste for collection, the grey water meets the water company's standard, and a compliant fats, oils and grease system protects the effluent. No manufacturer guarantees full separation, so operators carry the compliance risk. For most Kent sites, cold storage plus a licensed lift is simpler and cheaper over five years.
FOG management built into the drainage design
Fats, oils and grease from commercial kitchens cause thousands of sewer blockages a year and section 111(1)(a) of the Water Industry Act is used to prosecute. A grease separator certified to BS EN 1825 parts 1 and 2, a certified grease removal unit, a passive trap or a biological dosing system needs to be on the drawing, sized to the load, and on a service plan before the kitchen goes live.
Reduce at source before you spend on kit
WRAP estimates almost a fifth of all food bought by UK hospitality is thrown away, at about £3 billion a year to the sector. Their Guardians of Grub tools and the Target-Measure-Act framework cut waste before it becomes a disposal problem, which cuts the whole downstream cost. We use them at the design brief stage to right-size stores, prep areas and collection.
Compliance checklist
What a compliant new kitchen looks like
A short list your EHO will recognise, and the one we work to when scoping a design.
Separate, labelled, colour-coded bins
Food waste kept apart from dry mixed recyclables and general waste, in containers the team can identify at a glance during service.
Licensed carrier contract to anaerobic digestion or composting
Signed, filed, and audited on the same schedule as the rest of your compliance paperwork.
Documented staff training on source separation
EHOs will ask. Training records need to show the whole kitchen team, refreshed when the roster changes.
No maceration to sewer
Confirm the drainage schedule shows no macerator or waste disposal unit discharging to sewer, except under the remote-site exemption. In Wales, not even that.
FOG management sized and serviced
Separator or GRU sized to the wash-up flow, on a service plan, with pumping and cleaning records kept for the water authority.
FAQs
Common questions
Can we still fit a waste disposal unit in a new commercial kitchen in Kent?
Not as a route to the sewer. Since 31 March 2025 in England, a business with ten or more employees cannot discharge food waste to drain, and Kent has no genuinely remote-site sites that would trigger the narrow exemption. A dewaterer that separates one hundred per cent of solids and hands them to a licensed carrier is legally permitted in England, but the operator carries the compliance risk on grey-water quality and FOG. On most Kent projects we recommend chilled bin storage plus a licensed food-waste lift, which is simpler and cheaper over the life of the kitchen.
Do dewaterers count as macerators under the ban?
In England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, a dewaterer is a separate category and can still be used where it separates one hundred per cent of solids for licensed collection and the resulting grey water meets your water company's discharge standard. In Wales, the Workplace Recycling Regulations of April 2024 explicitly ban dewaterers, macerators and enzyme digesters as a route to sewer. If your kitchen crosses the border into Wales, the Welsh rule is the tighter one.
What size chilled food-waste store do we need?
Size it to the collection frequency, not the peak service. A restaurant on a weekly lift needs enough capacity to hold seven days of food waste with the bins closed and chilled. Twice-weekly changes the number. As a starting point we allow around fifty to seventy litres per hundred covers per day for a mid-market restaurant, then confirm with the carrier's schedule. Care and hospital kitchens run higher.
What is the enforcement risk if we ignore this?
Water and sewerage companies are prosecuting under section 111(1)(a) of the Water Industry Act, and the environmental sentencing guidelines apply. Fines are unlimited and the water authority can recover blockage clearance costs. Local authorities also enforce the recycling duties under the Environment Act 2021. Insurance cover for a resulting flood or contamination event can be refused where the operator was in breach.
Where does FOG management fit in?
Every commercial kitchen produces fats, oils and grease. Discharging FOG to sewer is a contravention of the Water Industry Act 1991 in its own right. New kitchens need a grease separator certified to BS EN 1825 parts 1 and 2, a certified grease removal unit, or a compliant biological dosing system, sized to the wash-up flow and on a documented service plan. We size and specify FOG kit at the drainage design stage, not after the fact.
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