Terraces open again: what do you do with the waste?

It felt like it would last forever, but at last hospitality businesses can open their terraces again. Time to enjoy a glass of wine, a beer or lunch outside. Weather permitting, of course. But when the guests come back, so does the waste. Is your old waste contract still active, and does it still suit your needs? Or would it be better to look at which wheelie bins you need now?

Coronavirus has hit the hospitality sector hard: just when the restrictions finally allow it, the weather turns against you. Sitting in a thick coat under an umbrella with your hands around a warm cup of coffee isn't ideal. Still, plenty of people do it. Your guests have waited so long for this moment that they're happy to put up with it. And once the sun peeks through the clouds, the terraces will fill up again and things will feel a bit more like the old days.

When sales pick up again, so does your waste. You may have been able to pause or scale down your waste contract, but many businesses cancelled theirs or never had one. What now? Will you go through the whole quotation process again, or would you rather keep things simple, with a clear idea of which commercial waste you need? To give you an idea of what a hospitality business like yours typically needs, we've listed the most ordered wheelie bins for small hospitality businesses.

Every business is different, and so is every business's waste. Still, by looking at what most hospitality owners choose, you can make a good estimate of what will suit you. The most requested wheelie bins for small hospitality businesses are:

• 660 litre paper and cardboard
• 660 litre residual waste
• 240 litre bottle glass
• 120 litre organic waste or swill

On average, wheelie bins are emptied once a week, but sometimes more or less often works better. If you're not sure, we recommend starting with once a week. You can change the frequency at any time. There's no need to wait until the next collection or anything like that.

Apart from what you need to get rid of your waste, it's also worth thinking about where the wheelie bins will go and what you'd like. If you have outdoor space, a 1100 litre container will fit easily. If the container has to stand indoors, you'll need a smaller one and may need to have it emptied more often. It's useful to know that a 660-litre wheelie bin fits through a door. That's partly why it's such a popular wheelie bin: it holds a lot, yet it's easy to find space for.

Do you have lots of boxes and don't want to spend ages folding them up? With a 240 or 3600 litre bin, you really have to fold the boxes to get them in. With a 660-litre wheelie bin, smaller boxes simply fit in once flattened, without having to fold them in half. If you have a lot of large boxes, go for an 1100 litre or even bigger. If you really want to spend as little time as possible folding and you have the space, order a 2400 litre mesh container.