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.”

The latest concerns were expressed after Defra today published its implementation timeline for the reforms in its response to the Simpler Recycling consultation.

DCN’s 169 member councils have repeatedly said that while we support moves to make the waste system more sustainable, unless the measures are fully funded by the Government, already financially stretched councils will have no choice but to cut back on other services.

A typical investment of nearly £1m in new waste vehicles is required by each council to cope with the additional collections required by the Government’s plans. However, the funding package announced by Defra doesn’t reflect current market prices or the inevitable cost increases that will occur when hundreds of councils seek to procure new vehicles simultaneously.

Breckland Council in Norfolk was told in an independent assessment that it faced a £640k bill in vehicle costs above that that will be funded by the Government. Meanwhile, a partnership of five district councils in Suffolk faces a shortfall of £2.13m for its required vehicles.

Promised Government funding also stops short of covering the extra waste depot space required by many councils. A DCN survey indicates that the median cost of depot expansion is £1.5m per council, with some councils anticipating bills as high as £15m.

Cllr Sam Chapman-Allen, Chairman of the District Councils’ Network, said: “District councils are fully committed to delivering a waste system which is more effective and will be supported by our residents but the Government’s failure to provide adequate funding and realistic timelines risks making the Simpler Recycling reforms unviable.

“The failure to follow the longstanding doctrine that new burdens imposed on councils will be fully funded by the Government means that already financially-stretched authorities are effectively being told to eat into scant resources desperately required for other services. These other services will inevitably be impacted.

“It is unacceptable that we are expected to overhaul our waste collection systems for households within a mere 20 months, and those for businesses within 10 months. The rule of supply and demand shows the dangers of every council being forced to procure new lorry fleets simultaneously – a longer timeline would help us ensure maximum value, both for councils and, most importantly, taxpayers.

“We are pleased that the Government has listened to the voices of our member councils by allowing councils local discretion to fit waste streams together, minimising each household’s number of bins which would otherwise been as high as seven.

“However, we are concerned that the Government is insisting that residual waste should be collected at least once every fortnight. This one-size-fits-all, top-down approach fails to recognise that councils are elected sovereign bodies, which deliver waste services reflecting the unique challenges and needs of our local areas. It also fails to recognise that the priority should be to reduce waste levels overall and to increase recycling.

“It is crucial that the Government recognises the true costs and time required to successfully implement these reforms, respects the autonomy of district councils, and provides the necessary support to ensure their success without compromising the wellbeing of our communities. We are keen to speak more with ministers about how we can work together to ensure the success of Simpler Recycling.”

DCN councils are leading on net zero at a local level, supporting renewable energy developments and helping residents cut down on fossil fuels.

Cllr Smith highlighted that grid constraints are the biggest challenge to the decarbonisation of our local communities, preventing individuals and businesses from transitioning away from fossil fuels.

She cited figures from the Local Government Association (LGA) that more than a thousand clean energy projects with planning permission are waiting to be built with net zero ambitions at risk of being scuppered if grid connection challenges are not fixed.

Cllr Smith also highlighted the importance of a plan-led system through Local Area Energy Plans and retrofitting homes. She emphasised that these should become statutory to put all councils on a level playing field.

Far from being the barriers to enabling sustainable electrification of the UK economy, she said that DCN councils and our communities are more often than not the drivers behind it. Councils across the country are working to deliver net zero and decarbonise the electricity system.

You can watch the full evidence session here. The transcript can be read here

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs today announced that councils will retain the local ability to decide how best to collect waste in the way that best works for their local communities.

We also await confirmation that the government will drop its proposal that all households should receive free garden waste collections. These collections are a key source of income for waste services. We firmly believe that people who do not use the service should not subsidise those who do.

DCN believes that local discretion is the best means of improving recycling rates and moving towards net zero. Retaining proposals to let residents recycle more at home – whilst allowing councils to decide how to collect recycling – will ultimately result in higher levels of recycling. The implementation of mandatory weekly food waste collections will be challenging for some councils. We understand the desire to recycle food waste more effectively. But we would urge the Government to offer flexibility in situations where collecting food waste at the kerbside is difficult, for example blocks of flats.

We also have concerns about the decision to impose mandatory fortnightly collections for residual waste. This removes councils’ ability to decide what is best for their communities. There can be good environmental reasons for collecting waste less frequently. This new requirement risks cutting across the Government’s own aim of boosting the recycling of food waste.

The waste sector now awaits the full detail of Defra’s plans. Councils are keen to work with the Government to ensure reforms are workable and work to minimise waste overall, rather than just increase recycling rates.

It is essential for the Government to fully fund the resource and capital costs that councils will incur to implement the remaining reforms, especially food waste collections. Councils cannot afford the cost of new bins, vehicle fleets and, in some cases, larger depots. The longstanding principle that new burdens imposed by the Government are funded by the Government must be fully applied.

The reforms should be implemented in a realistic timescale. In recent years many councils have felt they had no choice but to postpone upgrading waste infrastructure because uncertainty over national policies meant they might buy the wrong type of equipment. This means that much equipment needs to be replaced or upgraded. However, it is hard to believe all councils can procure the new equipment and infrastructure in little more than two years.

Councillor Sarah Nelmes, DCN’s environment spokesperson, said: 

“District councils are committed to collecting and recycling waste in the most environmentally friendly way possible – but this differs from place to place, with local expertise required to devise plans that work for each community.

“Today’s announcement that councils will be able to collect waste materials however they decide is a victory for common sense. We can continue to rely on the local solutions which have increased recycling rates and we now have the certainty we need to take long-term decisions on how to improve services for our residents and to help us move towards net zero.

“Although we will be spared the costs of buying vast numbers of bins and vehicles for the sole purpose of conforming to top-down stipulation, there will still be significant costs attached to the reforms, and we await further detail from the Government on how they will be funded. Any ongoing costs must be covered through either new burdens funding from the Government or from the upcoming Extended Producer Responsibility scheme.”

“We look forward to working with the Government and the rest of the waste sector to bring about the best possible services for our residents and the most positive possible for our environment – both local and global.”

“These programmes have been subject to extensive delays creating ongoing uncertainty for local authorities. Implementing these significant changes to how consumers and businesses handle packaging could have led to a shift in our economy and consumption.”

“The DCN is extremely concerned about the ongoing delays to waste policy announcements, and we are calling on government for urgent clarity on how it will deliver on its environmental targets.”

“The continued uncertainty is actively hampering councils from investing in and improving their services, delaying procurement, and undermining local authorities’ efforts to increase recycling rates, deliver greater value to local taxpayers and shift towards net zero.”

You can read our full response by clicking here.

The policy is supposed to shift much of the financial responsibility for dealing with waste from councils to those producing it, ensuring an incentive to bring in more sustainable and less wasteful packaging.

However, today the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs signalled implementation of the policy would be delayed by a year. See the ‘updates’ section here.

This is the latest delay on waste policy announcements. Councils have already had to put off decisions on how to invest in services due to the Government failing to respond for two years to its consultation on waste consistency.

In response to the latest delay, Cllr Sarah Nelmes, DCN environment spokesperson, said:

“Councils need clarity on waste policy and we need it urgently. This latest delay adds to the uncertainty which is hampering us from improving services so that recycling rates increase, we provide even greater value to local taxpayers and we move towards net zero.

“The delay in implementing EPR must not be allowed to undermine the commitment, set out in the Environment Act, that those who produce waste should fund councils’ services on an ongoing basis. Councils need clear, realistic timelines to know when this vital policy is going to be implemented.

“While councils are, of course, seeking to increase recycling rates, there has been far too little attention paid to reducing the overall amount of waste produced – and the incentives provided by EPR are an essential tool to bring this about.

“If there is a silver lining on this latest delay, it does at least provide an opportunity to sort out some of the questions that remain over how EPR funding will be distributed in a way that is fair to all councils, whether in rural or urban settings.

“We want to build the waste services which serve the unique needs of each local area but we are putting off decisions in the expectation that the Government will impose new requirements on us. The ongoing uncertainty means many councils have paused on replacing their older vehicles and cannot take decisions on how to move waste services towards net zero.”

Note: For more information on the delay in the Government waste consultation response, see here.

The success of district councils in recycling waste and reducing the overall amount of waste has been confirmed by new Government figures.

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs data for 2021-22 published on Friday shows the top five recycling councils in the country are all district councils.

Three Rivers District Council in Hertfordshire is the highest recycler, with 63.5% of its household waste sent for recycling, reuse or composting.

The top three councils for having the lowest amount of residual waste – i.e. waste which is not recycled, reused or composted – per household are all district councils. The council with the lowest amount is East Devon District Council.

The data has emerged at a time of growing concern among district councils about the potential impact of anticipated Government waste reforms. Defra had been expected today to also publish its long-awaited response to a 2021 consultation on waste consistency, although the announcement was subsequently cancelled.

The consultation response had been expected to set out the extent to which all councils will be required to alter their services to meet the new guidance, including the timetable for separate food waste collections and clarity on garden waste and the frequency of waste collections.

However, DCN councils fear that such rules could pay no heed to local factors. For instance, in rural areas they could potentially result in councils having to dramatically increase the size of their vehicle fleet – at significant expense to the taxpayer – with lorries travelling long distances to collect relatively small amounts of material. The environmental benefits of this are dubious.

Many councils also believe increasing the complexity of the recycling system reduces residents’ willingness to recycle and believe fewer bins for households – with them putting a number of different recyclables into the same bin – has greater benefits.

DCN analysis of today’s data shows that six of the top 10 recycling councils have ‘comingled’ waste, with dry and clean recyclables such glass, metal, paper and card, and plastics in a single bin. The other four have ‘twin stream’ systems with paper and card collected separately from other materials. This suggests that existing collection systems are producing the strongest results.

DCN’s environment spokesperson is Cllr Sarah Nelmes, the leader of Three Rivers District Council, which has the best recycling rate.

Cllr Nelmes said: “We have been in the top 10 recycling authorities for the past 10 years – and I am immensely proud of that fact. It is great that this year we have once again returned to the top of the list.

“This is no accident: it is thanks to the wide dedication of the council and of our residents and I congratulate all involved and thank everyone for their efforts. “Recycling and composting are so vital in our effort to keep resources in use for longer as we work to protect our planet.

“Across the country, district councils are leading the way in boosting recycling and we seek to work with the Government to devise local systems that further increase recycling and – equally importantly – reduce the level of waste overall.

“The strongest recycling councils have used their knowledge of their local geography and the needs of their local community to devise the system which works best in their area, and we need to retain this local discretion for further success in future.”

Notes for editors.

You can read Defra’s data here.

The two top 10s for council recycling and residual waste per household follow.

Top 10 council recyclers

Top 10 councils: residual waste per household

The District Councils’ Network (DCN) commissioned the independent analysts BritainThinks to survey people living in the English shires about their attitudes to the local public services in their area.

BritainThinks’ polling makes clear the significant perceived value of services such as waste collection, street cleaning and leisure services which are open to all residents but have sometimes been neglected in the national debate about local government.

Waste collection was the single most valued service, with 92% of people considering it essential.

The survey of 1,000 people living in English shire areas with both district and county councils also revealed a significant level of public backing and trust in district councils.

The survey revealed greater name-recognition for district councils – the most localised principal authorities – than for the far larger county councils, with 59% of residents being able to identify their district, compared to 32% their county council.

Fifty-four percent of people expressed satisfaction with their district council, compared to 46% for county councils. Meanwhile, 63% of people described their district council as high-quality.

Districts were more trusted to boost local pride, bring local people’s views into decision making, tackle social issues and respond to local emergencies than county councils or national government.

These findings come a month before 17 district councils are to be abolished in Cumbria, North Yorkshire and Somerset, to be replaced by far larger and more remote unitary authorities.

Cllr Sam Chapman-Allen, chairman of the DCN, said:

“While there has been an understandably heavy focus on the work of social care departments in the national debate about local government, a sense of the broader role of councils and the immense value of their most well-used services has been under appreciated.

“Most district council services are universal, with all residents benefitting for instance from leisure facilities to keep people healthy, environmental services to make places green and pleasant to live in, our economic development work to secure prosperity and growth, and our unique ability to connect with and support those people in most need of help.

“Our services are visible to every single resident – they shape places; they help bring about health, prosperity, fairness and compassion; and our proactive social intervention lessens the burden on the NHS and other parts of the public sector. These services are perhaps better understood and appreciated by the local people who use them and rely upon them than by Westminster or Whitehall.

“The results of this research are an endorsement of the scale of district councils. We are the most localised principal authorities – our boundaries are for the most part built around easily-identifiable market towns, seaside communities, new towns and cathedral cities. We are genuinely local government.

“The fact that we are close to all our residents helps us win trust. Our localised nature gives us a unique convening power to pull together local people and to channel our collective energy towards moving our places forward. This often means we are best placed to drive change.

“But this research also reaffirms that local government in two-tier areas works. Residents recognise the different strengths of district and county councils.”

Ben Shimshon, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, BritainThinks, said:

“The picture of district councils that emerges from this research is of a well-understood, locally focussed and largely effective provider of services that matter to local residents.

“Whilst there is always room to improve – and almost a fifth of residents express some dissatisfaction with the performance of their council – this research demonstrates that district councils are working from a strong base, with majorities of residents feeling that they have the interests of local communities at heart, that they deliver services that matter for their community, and that their areas would be worse off without their district council.”

• You can read the full report here.
• BritainThinks’ full data can be read here.

Local government should be empowered to independently fund clean growth projects and lead the drive to hit net zero in local communities, a report from Localis, co-commissioned by DCN, today urges.

‘Mapping a route to clean local growth – clearing the path to net zero’ calls on central government to raise the floor of support to help councils deliver a decarbonised local economy and to remove the ceiling on their ambition.

• To download the report click here: Mapping a route to clean local growth

The report argues against a false dichotomy of ‘economy versus environment’ and instead says clean growth – spearheaded and catalysed by bold councils – could provide the much-needed growth gear shift which has eluded the British economy for decades.

The transformative change required to alleviate the damage of climate change should go hand in hand with the levelling up agenda to usher in more inclusive and balanced regional economies, says Localis. The empowerment of councils can galvanise improved productivity, long-term job creation in strategically important industries, improved quality of life and a better environment, as well as tackling many of the causes of the cost-of-living crisis, the paper argues.

The report also says that Local Plans – the documents agreed by councils which chart future land use – should set out how each area is to be decarbonised, for instance by demanding the highest energy efficiency standards and setting out a timetable for retrofit.

Meanwhile, the government is urged to set up a fund to support the retrofitting of housing and other buildings and to also to give local leaders autonomy to directly address this as a priority area for place-based decarbonisation.

The study examined five main economic pillars crucial to attaining net zero: housing and the built environment; energy; manufacturing; transport and infrastructure and land management and climate resilience.

It concluded that local government faces three key challenges in driving decarbonisation and delivering clean local growth: strategic planning across boundaries, addressing the skills deficit and the need to drive inward investment.  In addressing these challenges, the report authors called on local government to lean on its soft power as place leaders to drive action and to take on a whole place approach to local economic strategy.

There are five action points for local leaders.

• Rethink an area’s local plan so that it becomes the local driving force behind decarbonisation and clean growth- ensuring housing and economic needs are met sustainably. The local plan should be used to demand the highest energy efficiency standards, set out a timetable for retrofit, and become the ultimate guide to the fulfilment of your area’s net-zero goals.
• Councils should conduct green energy reviews. These should set out what community energy projects and renewable energy assets exist in the local area and provide an understanding of the potential scope for increasing local, sustainable energy generation.
• Engage local businesses, especially manufacturers, as they embark on or accelerate their passage on their decarbonisation journey. Engagement and expert advice, and a culture of cross-sector collaboration can bring about a just transition to net-zero industry.
• Review active travel policies to evaluate the scope to change the travel behaviour among parts of your local demographic which have been reluctant to adapt.
• Develop a holistic land use strategy for areas so that carbon-intensive land use is offset and meet multiple objectives to increase biodiversity, flood and climate resilience and improve food security.

Localis head of research, Joe Fyans, said: “Local authorities across the country are rightly acting to push their local economies in the direction of decarbonisation and better, higher growth.

“This report is filled with examples of councils acting within current systemic constraints to deliver net zero – using their Local Plans to push better practice in the built environment, investing locally in the generation and supply of renewable energy, working with local business to increase sustainable practice, leading a transformation in land management, and driving behavioural and infrastructural changes needed to transition justly to a net zero country.”

Cllr Sarah Nelmes, environment spokesperson of the District Councils’ Network, said: “There is huge ambition among local leaders to transform our places towards a cleaner, healthier, net-zero future – this is, quite simply, the biggest challenge our places face.

“This is a challenge local leaders can meet alongside growing their local economy. Far from decarbonisation and growth being conflicting goals, the former is a prerequisite to the latter if our local economies are to remain sustainable long-term.

“District councils have the highly-localised convening power necessary to drive behaviour change among our communities and our businesses, and to lead the drive for green growth. Our message to government is to give us the freedoms we require to get the funding for decarbonisation and in our places we will be your partners for change.”

Adele Gritten, chief executive, Local Partnerships, said: “Many of the actions required to tackle the cost-of-living crisis and greenhouse gas emissions are the same. Fundamentally, we need to become more efficient and use fewer resources.

“Energy is a key resource in this context and wholesale programmes of energy efficiency measures and active travel would save both the planet and stretched household budgets. This work is best co-ordinated locally, with local authorities leading on everything from land use to skills planning and growing the green economy.”

Cllr Paul Bettison, chairman of the Unitary Councils’ Network, said: “Unitary councils want to go further and faster with delivering green jobs and green solutions for our residents to help them reduce energy bills and to deliver our communities’ net zero targets.

“As the leaders of our respective places, we want to work with government, the private and voluntary sectors to increase the pace of change to ensure we can meet the global climate change targets.”