Commercial waste Kent
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Kent County Council offers free domestic waste collection services but does not provide commercial waste collections.
According to the Kent County Council’s page on commercial waste, local businesses must instead:
We begin our guide with the top commercial waste collection services available in Kent:
All of Kent’s business waste collection providers offer a commercial dry-mixed recycling service alongside more specialised segregated recycling streams for materials such as cardboard, glass, and other recyclables.
Mixed recycling collections provide a convenient way for businesses to benefit from the lower commercial waste collection costs associated with recycling.
Kent is renowned for its vineyards, such as Chapel Down Winery. These businesses generate significant amounts of used wine bottles, necessitating efficient commercial glass recycling solutions.
💡 Did you know? Recycling one tonne of glass saves approximately 590 kilograms of sand, 186 kilograms of soda ash, and 172 kilograms of limestone. It also conserves 30% of the energy required to produce new glass.
Kent is home to the Bluewater Shopping Centre and logistics hubs around the Port of Dover, which generate large volumes of cardboard waste. Separate commercial cardboard recycling collections are crucial to ensure this valuable waste type avoids cross-contamination and is fully recycled.
💡 Did you know? The UK boasts a corrugated cardboard recycling rate of around 84%, surpassing the 75% target set by the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive.
Restaurants and pubs in Kent have a wide range of options for their food waste collections. Most national and local commercial waste providers mentioned in this guide offer weekly commercial food waste collection.
Alternatively, the specialist provider Verigreen offers a service where collected food waste is transported to a dedicated anaerobic digestion plant in Kent. Here, the waste is transformed into fertiliser and biogas.
Kent is home to numerous large businesses, including prominent companies like Pfizer in Sandwich. These organisations generate substantial amounts of paper waste from offices, R&D departments, and administrative operations.
💡 Did you know? Recycling one tonne of paper can save approximately 17 trees, 26,500 litres of water, and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Kent houses both the University of Kent and Canterbury Christ Church University, which are significant contributors to the biotechnology sector.
The laboratories within these universities generate a variety of hazardous waste that requires careful management and disposal by specialists in hazardous waste management.
Businesses in Kent have several excellent options for commercial waste collection services. In this section, we highlight the top local commercial waste collection providers in Kent:
Country Style Recycling offers commercial waste and recycling collections across Kent and Cambridgeshire. Their flagship Recycling and Recovery Centre at Ridham, near Sittingbourne, processes waste from over 3,000 local businesses.
Country Style Recycling operates a dedicated wood recycling facility which produces panel boards and wood pellets from recyclable wood.
CDDL Recycling is a total waste management company offering a free commercial waste audit to assist customers in streamlining and optimising their waste management strategies.
CDDL provides regular waste and recycling collections across Kent from their base in Sheerness.
Midas Waste, an independently owned commercial waste management company, is based in Gravesend, Kent. Their fleet of bright pink waste vehicles is a familiar sight across the Southeast.
Midas Waste provides a zero-to-landfill waste disposal service as standard. All commercial waste collected is recycled, and as much residual waste as possible is sent to an energy recovery facility.
RTS Waste offers a range of recycling services, including general waste, food waste, dry-mixed recycling, and commercial glass recycling across Kent.
RTS operates its Kent fleet from their premises on Manor Way Business Park in Swanscombe, on the banks of the Thames.
Trident Waste is a family-run business based in Ashford, Kent. The emphasis at Trident Waste is on maximising recycling and offering the greenest possible solution to trade waste.
Trident Waste offers regular collections across major towns and rural areas of Kent, focusing on providing a positive customer experience.
East Kent Recycling operates two waste recycling centres in the heart of Kent, in Faversham and Tilmanstone. EKR is an independent waste management provider with over 45 years of experience, employing more than 100 staff members in Kent.
Originally based in East Kent, EKR has expanded its operations across the county from Thanet to Sevenoaks.
In this section, we will review commercial waste disposal options available to businesses in Kent that hold a waste carrier licence to transport their own waste.
Kent County Council does not permit businesses to use most of their recycling centre but does accept commercial waste at the following locations:
For further information on using these sites, visit Kent County Council – Transfer Stations.
Alternatively, there are privately run commercial waste recycling sites in Kent at the following locations:
The waste transfer stations above will provide you with a Waste Transfer Note for any business waste you bring, allowing your company to demonstrate its compliance with commercial waste regulations.
💡For other nearby commercial recycling centres, visit our page on Essex commercial waste.
This section explores some of the more specialised commercial waste collection requirements for key business sectors in Kent.
Kent’s bustling town centre is home to popular pubs like The Black Horse in Maidstone and The George & Dragon in Canterbury. These pubs generate various types of waste, including glass bottles, food scraps, cardboard packaging, and other recyclables.
Effective pub waste management solutions are essential for pubs in Kent to handle their daily waste output efficiently.
Kent is home to over 1,500 restaurants that produce significant volumes of commercial food and other waste.
Restaurant waste management solutions include regular food waste collections that not only help maintain the hygiene of professional kitchens but also convert food waste into compost and green biogas.
Kent’s thriving business community and numerous office spaces, including notable sites like the Eurolink Industrial Centre in Sittingbourne and Kreston Reeves in Canterbury, generate substantial office waste.
Local office waste solutions encompass confidential waste disposal and recycling. These practices promote sustainability by reducing landfill contributions.
Kent’s high streets host many cafes and coffee shops to support locals and tourists.
Effective cafe waste management is crucial for maintaining cleanliness, sustainability, and compliance with environmental regulations.
Tailored waste management solutions, such as composting services for organic waste like coffee grounds and food scraps, help reduce landfill contributions.
Kent, home to several major healthcare facilities, such as the Kent and Canterbury Hospital and Medway Maritime Hospital, generates substantial amounts of waste, including clinical waste, hazardous materials, medical waste, and general refuse.
Effective hospital waste management is crucial for maintaining a safe, hygienic environment and ensuring strict health and environmental regulations compliance.
With its extensive network of approximately 600 educational institutions, including primary schools, secondary schools, and colleges, Kent generates diverse waste, including paper, food, plastics, and electronic waste.
Tailored waste management solutions are essential for handling specific types of school waste. This includes recycling programs for paper, plastics, and electronics and composting initiatives for food waste from cafeterias.
The two largest UK commercial waste providers, Biffa and Veolia, both have regular commercial waste collections across Kent.
Our commercial waste experts have pulled together a quick summary of the services they offer.
Biffa is the UK’s largest waste collection provider and offers regular commercial waste collection services across Kent and the South East.
Biffa employs a variety of technologies and processes, such as material recovery facilities (MRFs), energy-from-waste (EfW) plants, and anaerobic digestion (AD) facilities, to manage and process waste sustainably.
Biffa dealt with over nine million tonnes of waste from the South East last year, with a landfill diversion rate of over 90%. Biffa operates its waste collections in Kent from its hubs in Canterbury and Rochester.
Veolia is a national commercial provider with its operation in Kent, which is centred around the Shornescliffe Industrial Estate in Folkestone. Veolia offers regular routes across Kent for:
Veolia is offering a three month free trial for businesses in Thanet, where the local council has recently ceased to offer commercial waste collections.
Kent is home to Chapel Down, a renowned English wine producer. The vineyard is located on the North Downs of Kent, where south-facing chalk soils create conditions similar to those in the Champagne region of France.
Chapel Down is dedicated to sustainable winemaking practices, focusing on long-term environmental stewardship. Chapel Down provides a great example of strong commercial waste management strategies in action.
The primary waste from the vineyard consists of vine prunings, the majority of which are mulched and then reused as compost. The remainder is sent to a local anaerobic digester to produce green energy, utilising a commercial garden waste disposal service.
The fine English wine produced by Chapel Down is packaged in bottles made from 76% recycled glass. After consumption, customers can include these bottles in their dry-mixed recycling bin.
Where Chapel Down cannot source recycled materials for their purchases, they endeavour to use Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified materials. This certification ensures that the wood used in the product comes from FSC-certified forests.
Website – Chapel Down sustainability