The Government’s assurance that local areas will retain discretion over how waste is collected has been welcomed by district councils.

Defra policy statements issued today reveal the requirement that councils collect residual waste at least once a fortnight has been dropped. This gives cash-strapped councils the ability to decide how to fund extra food waste collections and to incentivise residents to recycle food.

Provisional funding allocations for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) – the policy intended to shift the cost of recycling or disposing of packaging to the companies that use it – were sent to councils yesterday. However, the Local Government Policy Statement issued by the Government indicated that even factoring in EPR and core funding increase, some authorities may not receive a real-terms increase in funding for next year. Coupled with insufficient new burdens funding for weekly food waste services, less can be spent on improving local recycling rates.

For councils to deliver on Environment Secretary Steve Reed’s ambition to move towards a more circular economy, councils need stable funding and significant investment in our recycling infrastructure to reduce contamination.

The policy statements set out a presumption that councils collect cardboard and paper separately from other recyclables to reduce contamination. Currently over 100 district councils do not provide separate collections, and no ‘new burdens’ funding is proposed to fund these new collections.

The tight timescale on introducing these changes – just 18 months’ notice from now – will prove challenging for many councils. There is also the danger that suppliers of equipment will be unable to keep up with demand or are able to charge higher rates than would otherwise be the case.

All councils need comprehensive new burdens funding to implement separate collections of paper and cardboard or it will be unfeasible to do so.

Defra has confirmed previous proposals that councils can continue to ‘co-mingle’ metal, plastic and glass materials in the same bins, thus reducing the need for significant extra expenditure on lorries and bins.

Previously announced capital funding for food waste collections has fallen far short of the cost of vehicles and containers required to roll this out. There is an average shortfall in funding of £268k per district council to implement and expand food waste collections by March 2025.

DCN Environment Spokesperson, Cllr Andy Graham said:

“It’s great that the new Government has listened to local authorities and is retaining local discretion over waste collections. District councils’ closeness to our communities mean we know best how to devise a system that works for our citizens and businesses in a cost-effective way.

“The requirement to introduce additional collections by March 2026 is a massive opportunity to change our residents’ behaviour for the better. However, financial pressures have given many councils little option but to cut the number of waste reduction officers in recent years and we need to step up investment in our workforce now.

“The best thing the Government can do is give councils the tools and funding to work directly with our residents to recycle as much food, plastic and cardboard as possible.

“Plans to require separate collection of paper and cardboard are well-intentioned to stop contaminating valuable materials. However, it is worrying that Government has not provided new burdens funding for the upfront or ongoing costs of making separate collections.

“Few district councils will be able to afford to make this change without this. It is vital that the Government provides comprehensive funding for councils to implement separate paper collections as well as all the other Simpler Recycling reforms.

“We will be writing to the government to highlight our concerns and how we can improve recycling across England.”