Food waste deadline missed over 'supplier issue'
BBCA council said it will miss a government deadline to introduce weekly food waste collections to all homes because of a supplier issue.
Darlington Borough Council said the new scheme would no longer start on 31 March after it was "let down" by a supplier.
A revised start date of 2 June has been agreed, when it expected to have the required recycling wagons for the new process, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
Cabinet member for resources Libby McCollom said: "This is very frustrating for us, as we were ready to launch the new scheme and help residents recycle more, but the unexpected delay by the supplier is out of our control."
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) required every household in England to get collections from April, but the BBC previously revealed a quarter of councils would miss this deadline.
The Labour-led council had been on course to meet the new requirements.
Darlington residents are being asked to not put food waste bins out for collection until the new start date and should continue to put the waste in the normal household bin.
The delay will also impact the start of weekly recycling collections, which would come in at the same time as food waste collections, the council said.
Residents will be asked to put food peelings, leftovers, out-of-date items and tea bags, in a lined caddy and in the outside food waste bin.
The food waste bin will be collected once a week with general recycling bins and green glass boxes.
