Agenda item

Report attached.

Members considered a report of Councillor Stewart Eaves, Portfolio Holder for Environmental Services, updating Cabinet about progress made relating to the introduction of weekly food waste collections to all domestic properties in Hyndburn by 1^st April 2026.

Councillor Eaves gave a brief introduction to the report and commented that the roll out of caddies was going well.  He was looking forward to the commencement of the pilot scheme for councillors.  Councillor Dad added that the Council would keep a close watch on how the new service was performing and any ‘teething problems’ would be addressed quickly.

Councillor Khan welcomed the new service and commented that many councils already collected food waste.  He noted that this would be new to the people of Hyndburn and asked whether vulnerable groups such as the elderly would have wrap-around support.  Councillor Eaves responded that support was available for those in need and added that the Council would be sensitive to the fact that the system was new to residents.  However, most people should adapt quickly.

Councillor Brerton added that, although some sections of the public were against food waste collection, the feedback received locally on social media had been mostly positive.  This comment was echoed by Councillor Khan.  The Leader was pleased to note that the caddies were now being rolled out to all residents.  Councillor Eaves summed up by stating that any negative feedback had been outweighed by the positive comments received and that, overall, the scheme was the right thing to do for the environment.

Approval of the report was not deemed 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 1^st April 2026 for each local authority in England.

To help facilitate this the Department for Environment, Food and  Rural Affairs (Defra) had provided some funding to help local authorities with the cost of introducing and continuing with food waste collections.  There were 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.

To date Defra had provided local authorities with the capital funding and the transitional funding.  The revenue element had been included in the financial settlement for the financial years 2026/27 and beyond.

Lancashire County Council, as waste disposal authority, had informed 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 would mean each household would need a kitchen caddie for food waste collection and a kerb side caddie to facilitate the collection of food waste by Waste Services collection crews.

The Council (as collection authority) would provide a kitchen caddie and kerb side caddie to each household in the Borough.  In addition, the Council would provide each household with a roll of food waste bags to line the kitchen caddie, as lining the kitchen caddie with a food waste bag made recycling food waste more convenient as well as more hygienic for the resident.

The Council would deliver a kitchen caddie, kerbside caddie, roll of food waste bags and a calendar/information leaflet to each household in the Borough during January and February 2026.  Food waste collections would then start on 1^st April 2026.

To facilitate the collection of food waste the Council had ordered some new collection vehicles.  These new vehicles would allow the Council to collect food waste at the same time as collecting waste and recycling from residents.  As food waste had to be collected each week, this meant food waste would be put out for collection at the same time and on the same day as residents’ wheelie bin collection for that week (whether it be grey, brown or blue wheelie bin).

As stated in Paragraph 3.5 of 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 process required food waste bags to be removed before the food waste went into the AD plant.  As such bio-degradable bags were not necessary and the Council had purchased recycled plastic food waste bags instead.

Alternative Options Considered and Reasons for Rejection

Not to introduce food waste collections on 1^st April 2026.  This had been rejected because it was a legal requirement set out in the Environment Act 2021 and on average 25% of grey bin waste was food waste, so recycling food waste reduced the amount of non-recyclable waste going to landfill or being incinerated.

Resolved                                    -    That Cabinet notes the report on the introduction of food waste collections.