Agenda item

Report attached.

Members considered a report of Councillor Stewart Eaves, Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services, informing the Cabinet about new regulations relating to the introduction of weekly food waste collections to all domestic properties in Hyndburn by 31^st March 2026.

Councillor Zak Khan enquired if the service would be sustainable in the longer term in the light of uncertainty around the amount of Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) funding.  The Leader of the Council responded that the Council would make representations to Defra regarding any shortfall, as would other local councils.

Approval of the report was not considered to be a key decision.

Reasons for Decision

Section 57 of the Environment Act 2021 had named food waste as a recyclable waste stream for the first time.  It also stated that recyclable household waste which was food waste must be collected at least once per week.

Further guidance from the Government had stated that the provision of food waste collections had to be in place by 31^st March 2026 for each local authority in England.

To help facilitate this Defra had indicated they would provide new burdens funding to help Local Authorities with the cost of introducing and continuing with food waste collections. Defra had indicated that there would be three tranches of funding: capital funding for the procurement of vehicles and containers; transitional funding to roll out food waste containers and information about collections; and revenue funding to pay for the future costs of food waste collections. 

At this stage Defra had only provided guidance on the capital funding element of this new burdens funding.  Each local authority had been pre-allocated capital funding which Defra believed was adequate for local authorities to purchase the correct number of vehicles and food waste containers to successfully deliver a food collection service in their Borough.

Hyndburn had been pre-allocated £665,500 in capital cost for the procurement of vehicles and food waste containers.  Defra broke this down as £77,700 (kitchen caddies plus spares), £178,710 (kerbside caddies plus spares) and £409,200 (vehicles plus spares).  No funding had been allocated by Defra to purchase food waste bags.

Hyndburn’s property count was currently at 37,450.  For waste services to provide a weekly food waste collection to all domestic properties in the Borough it was estimated that there would be a need for five vehicles (four vehicles in use and one spare vehicle available for use during breakdowns, repairs and servicing) each with a crew of two members of staff (consisting of a driver and a loader).

This would equate to two crews in the North and two crews in the South of the Borough operating each week.  In detail, this would require each team to collect from 1,850 properties per day.  However, industry research suggested only approximately 50% of residents would take up this service.  As such, food waste would be collected from approximately 925 properties per day, however the crews would still be required to drive down each street on their round each day, as every household was entitled to a food waste collection service.

As each driver and loader on the food waste round were contractually entitled to annual leave and there was a likelihood that staff might take some time off sick, as part of the revenue budget calculations an additional driver and waste loader had been factored in for business continuity purposes.

Lancashire County Council as waste disposal authority had told District Councils that they intended to process food waste via anaerobic digestion rather than in-vessel composting.  As such food waste could not be mixed with green waste and would have to be collected separately.  This meant each household would need a kitchen caddie for food waste collection at source and a kerb side caddie for the collection of food waste by waste services collection crews.

This meant that the Council (as collection authority) would have to provide a kitchen caddie and kerb side caddie to each household in the Borough.  Research had shown that food waste recycling participation increased when food waste bags to line the kitchen caddie were provided for free to residents, as lining the kitchen caddie with a food waste bag made recycling food waste more convenient as well as more hygienic for the resident.  Therefore, officers recommended that food waste bags were provided to each property in the Borough free of charge.  As such, the annual cost of providing food waste bags would need to be factored into on-going revenue costs.

Initial Capital Set up Costs.

Purchase 5 x Collection Vehicles at £100,000 = £500,000

Purchase 40,000 x 7L kitchen caddies at £3.95 each = £158,000

Purchase 40,000 x 23L collection caddie at £7 each = £290,000

Purchase 100 x 140L bins for communal developments at £16.50 each = £1,600

Purchase 40,000 rolls of 52 food waste bags at £0.68 per role = £27,200

Total £966,800

There would be additional capital costs for the future replacement of these vehicles that were not included in the above costs, which the council would need to fund through use of its own resources or future borrowing.

Additional Revenue Costs(Assuming food waste was tipped off in Hyndburn)

Note: the above costs were based on 2024/2025 budgets and would increase annually in line with pay awards and inflation.

Procurement

There was likely to be significant lead in periods when purchasing vehicles and with all local authorities needing caddies and food bags for the same start date, there was likely to be significant lead in periods for those products as well.

There were initial discussions as to whether a joint procurement exercise with other Lancashire authorities would provide better value for money.  A decision would need to be made when Hyndburn wished to procure vehicles and caddies as to whether they entered into a joint procurement exercise or not. 

Other Considerations

Lancashire County Council as disposal authority had stated that their current position was each district Council in East Lancashire needed to provide their own waste transfer arrangements.  If the District Councils did not provide a waste transfer station, then all waste needed to be taken to Farrington.  Should this position remain static, and Hyndburn could not provide its own food waste transfer point, from April 2026 Hyndburn BC would have to take food waste to Farrington for disposal.  Due to the travelling time and need to provide a seamless collection service, it was estimated that there would be a need for another 4 vehicles and 4 drivers which would need to be funded.

As stated earlier in the report, Lancashire County Council as disposal authority had advised that the disposal method for food waste was via anaerobic digestion (AD) units.  For AD units to work properly part of the AD process removed the food bags in the AD plant.  As such bio-degradable bags were not necessary and the Council could just purchase the least expensive food bags available, although this point would need explaining to residents.

There was a cost for the delivery of caddies/bags to residents, producing information leaflets and media press releases prior to food waste collections being started.  Defra had stated that they would provide funding to cover these transitional costs.  The Council had not been informed yet as to how much funding Defra would provide.

There were no alternative options for consideration or reasons

Resolved                                 (1)   That Cabinet notes the report.

(2)   That Cabinet supports the Council’s work to lobby Defra for additional new burdens funding to fully fund the introduction of food waste collections to all domestic properties in Hyndburn.