Waste legislation

All businesses generate some waste. You have a duty of care to ensure that all your waste is disposed of through approved routes. Depending on the type of material and the risk category of the waste it may be expensive to dispose of. The best option is to minimize waste produced where possible.

The main types of waste produced by a seafood business will be packaging and seafood material.

Packaging

There are legal requirements for certain categories of businesses to recycle or have recycled set amounts of their waste packaging. This requirement will affect your business if you handle more than 50 tonnes of packaging and have an annual turnover in excess of £2 million. Recycling can be carried out by the business producing the waste but it is more usual to use a waste contractor who will issue recycling notes to prove your compliance with the legislation.

More information on compliance can be found here. 

Seafood waste

Any seafood material that is not intended for human consumption automatically becomes an animal by-product (ABP). The handling, transport and use of ABPs is tightly controlled to prevent any risks to human health or the environment. ABPs are categorised as 1 - 3, with 1 being highest risk and 3 the lowest.

If the material is fit for human consumption, but not or no longer intended to be used for human consumption it will be a category 3 ABP. Retailers may generate small amounts of waste material from preparation of products or from unsold or damaged product. This must be disposed of by an approved method.

More information on compliance can be found here.