EU Food Waste Laws: What Hotels and Restaurants Need to Know (Before It’s Too Late)
Across Europe, food waste isn’t just a sustainability issue anymore. It’s a legal one. Whether you run a boutique hotel in Barcelona or a seaside restaurant in Cádiz, the rules around food waste are changing fast.
This post gives a quick breakdown of what’s happening, what it means for your kitchen, and how you can stay compliant without turning your back-of-house upside down.
The Big Shift: From voluntary to required
Governments across the EU are no longer asking politely. They’re making food waste separation and reporting mandatory.
✔ Under the EU Waste Framework Directive, every Member State must have separate bio-waste collection in place.
✔ In Spain, that’s already active. Every municipality must collect food waste, and hospitality businesses are expected to sort it.
✔ France, Italy, and Portugal have their own mandates too, with penalties already in motion.
In short, the clock’s ticking. If your venue isn’t sorting food waste yet, now’s the time to get organised.
What does this mean in practice?
For most hospitality businesses, this includes:
→ Using dedicated bins for food and organic waste
→ Training staff on proper sorting (no contamination!)
→ Keeping some kind of basic tracking or documentation
→ Knowing where your food waste is actually going
It might feel like another layer of complexity, but the good news is you don’t have to figure it out on your own.
How Sobra® keeps things simple
Sobra® works directly with hotel and venue teams to make sure you’re meeting legal requirements and running a system that actually works for your operation.
Here’s how we help:
→ We assess your setup and provide the right bins, signage and labels
→ We train staff on-site and follow up with refreshers as needed
→ We track food waste volumes and trends so you can see how you’re doing
→ We turn your organic waste into certified compost, right here in Spain
→ And we give you the data you need for reporting, marketing and compliance
No fuss, no fluff — just a working system that helps you stay ahead of the game.
Getting ready means more than avoiding a fine
The businesses that act early are the ones who save money, reduce risk, and have something meaningful to say to guests and clients.