Councillors have given the green light to start initial work on a major project to introduce weekly food waste collections across the district.

At a recent full council meeting we set a budget of just over £1million to kick start the project. Councillors also agreed that officers could go ahead and start priority work to acquire the specialist vehicles; containers and other equipment that will be needed for the collections.

In 2021 it became a legal requirement for all councils across England to introduce weekly food waste collections, and it was confirmed in October 2023 that the new service requirement must be provided by the end of March 2026.

Cabinet Member for the Environment Anne Clarke said, “Introducing a brand new service like this to 40,000 households is a major undertaking and requires a significant amount of preparation work before the physical roll-out of the collections can take place.

“It takes a considerable amount of time to procure the right equipment and vehicles which is why we have agreed to this funding so preparatory work can start immediately."

We will receive a grant towards the expenditure of the vehicles.

We want to reassure residents that there will be no change to their wheeled bin collections (black, burgundy and green) when this new system is introduced, as we will continue to provide the same level of service which will be enhanced by the new, much smaller food waste bin.