Weekly food waste pick-up plan 'not achievable'

A national requirement to provide a weekly food waste collection is "not achievable" in the Shropshire area, the council has said.

The government's Simpler Recycling legislation requires councils to offer weekly food waste collections by April.

But Shropshire Council cabinet member David Vasmer claimed the government had "let us down by withdrawing ring-fenced revenue funding for food waste at the last minute" leading to "uncertainty" over the money needed.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the reforms would "end the postcode lottery of bin collection and help keep our streets cleaner".

The Liberal Democrat administration said councillors would be asked to consider a range of options next week.

"Providing weekly food waste collections to all households in Shropshire from April 2026 does not appear to be achievable," said Vasmer, who has responsibility for waste management.

He said instead of providing ring-fenced revenue for food waste, the government had "lumped the funding" into the overall settlement for Shropshire, which was being cut.

Earlier this month, the council warned its spiralling financial situation could leave residents paying off debt for decades.

Vasmer said since 2023, the authority had worked closely with Defra and the council's waste contractor Veolia to find the most cost-effective weekly food waste service.

"In our dialogue with Defra we have raised concerns about the mechanism and amount of revenue to operate the service in the long term," he said.

"We were told that this would be covered by funding that could only be spent on the collection of food waste."

Vasmer said separate funding had been provided which included for vehicles and bins, but the recent settlement "failed to provide any revenue funding for a weekly food waste service".

"To start the service from April this year would place a significant financial risk on the council at a time when it already faces unprecedented financial pressure on existing services," he added.

The council said a report to its economy and environment overview and scrutiny committee asked them to consider three options before making a recommendation for a final decision by the cabinet, which meets next week.

These are:

• Do nothing
• Introduce a fortnightly collection of food waste through a 23-litre food waste bin, collected in existing garden waste vehicles
• Introduce a weekly food waste collection which alternates weekly between collecting food in garden waste vehicles and collecting it in food-waste only lorries

A Defra spokesperson said: "From March, every household in England will receive weekly food waste collections and will have the same materials collected for recycling.

"This will end the postcode lottery of bin collection and help keep our streets cleaner.

"Our recycling reforms are delivering £1bn every year for local authorities, which must be spent by councils to improve recycling collections."

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