New food waste collection service due to cost £2m

Setting up a new food waste collection service will cost almost £2m, a local authority has said.

South Norfolk Council will send more than 130,000 food waste containers to homes, with the authority also needing to buy 11 new lorries.

The set-up costs will be met by central government, but it is unclear what further support there might be.

There will be running costs of more than £1.1m a year for the service, which is needed because – from next year – every local authority in England will be required to collect food waste.

Framingham Earl will be among the first villages to have food waste recycling in South Norfolk

Framingham Earl will be among the first villages to have food waste recycling in South Norfolk

The council's Conservative-run council's cabinet was told the first food waste collections will start in May 2026 in places including Scole, Long Stratton and Queen's Hills.

The service will be rolled out to the rest of the district over the following months.

About 67,000 homes will be sent kitchen caddies and larger containers for outside the home, along with rolls of caddy liners.

However, the council has yet to finalise details for residents who have communal bins, such as people who live flats.

According to a report, in other council areas where collections take place, the amount of food waste going into caddies varies between 20% and 60%.

'Significant risk'

To encourage people to use their caddies, the report recommended hiring three community support officers for a year, at a total cost of £120,000.

The cost for those will be shared with neighbouring Broadland Council and Steve Williams, Senior Waste Operations Manager, said they would also be used to promote "wider recycling initiatives" as well.

But the report warned there is a "significant risk" when it comes to recruiting staff, partly because other local authorities will also be looking for workers.

Earlier this year, North Norfolk District Council agreed to spend a similar amount on setting up its collection service.

While the report says the initial expenditure would be covered by government funding, it is unclear what more there will be for ongoing costs – with the first year of service expected to cost about £1.15m.

The government has said local authorities will get money for recycling as part of an annual funding settlement.

A spokesman for the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs said its reforms were ending "the postcode lottery of bin collections".

"Every household in England will receive weekly food waste collections and will have the same materials collected for recycling, ending the throwaway society," they added.

The council's cabinet backed the proposals on Monday.