Local Businesses Food Waste Collection - Freedom of information requests

Title or Description: Local Businesses Food Waste Collection
FOI Number: 15618
Date Received: 20/09/2021
Type of Request: EIR
Request or Question: I would like to request the following information, please.How many local businesses meet the criteria for separate food waste collections?Of those, how many participate in separate food waste collections?How many local businesses meet the criteria for separate food waste collections but don’t have access to them?
Response: Scottish Borders Council Trade Waste Service operates in a competitive market and we can only comment on food waste businesses which use our service. We currently have 104 food waste customers, 29 of whom are internal to the Scottish Borders Council.

Scottish Borders Council have no knowledge regarding food waste collections for any businesses which use other waste management companies.
Scottish Borders Council also have no way of knowing how many food waste businesses in the Scottish Borders Council area meet the criteria as we cannot tell how much food waste is being produced and only those producing more than 5kg need to present for separate collection.
Collections are only available to food businesses in the non-rural areas as listed below.
Please see below extract from Waste (Scotland) Regulation 2012 showing criteria for food businesses -
These Regulations mean that all businesses and non-profit making organisations must:
* Separate all paper, cardboard, metal, glass and plastics from general waste for recycling
* Food businesses (such as cafés, restaurants or food takeaways), except in rural areas, which produce over 5 kg of food waste per week also have to present food waste separately for collection
Areas that the Scottish Government have classified as non-rural in the Scottish Borders are Galashiels including Tweedbank, Peebles, Selkirk, Hawick and Jedburgh.