Major step towards weekly bin collections

From April 2026, the city council will be tasked with providing weekly collections of food waste to every home under its jurisdiction.

Transcript

00:00A major new bin collection in every household in Liverpool is to move a step closer next month.

00:05From April 2026, the City Council will be tasked with providing weekly collections of food waste

00:11to every home under its jurisdiction. After legislation was passed four years ago,

00:16they are now just 10 months until the major change is adopted by every council in the country.

00:21It comes as Liverpool was recorded as having the second worst recycling rates across the UK.

00:26Now in a bid to get ready for the changes which it says could cost anywhere up to £3m. The

00:33local authorities cabinet is to move forward to begin its procurement process for the required

00:38vehicles and bins to undertake the collections. In November last year it was revealed how currently

00:43around a third of what goes into our waste bin is food. Local authority officials believe there are

00:48better ways this can be processed and are seeking to implement efforts to encourage people to use

00:54their containers more efficiently. It's thought the new waste collection will help to increase

00:59composting to produce green biogas to fuel homes and vehicles, replacing fossil fuel, gas and organic

01:06fertiliser to replace chemicals used in farming. When they meet in June, cabinet members will be asked

01:11to approve the awarding of contracts for the vehicles and containers required to deliver a weekly

01:16household collection of food waste from next spring. It's currently unknown whether the government will

01:22provide any new funding to help with these costs or expect local authorities to fund the services

01:28based on the premise the changes may reduce long-term disposal costs. In terms of recycling,

01:34Liverpool remains the second worst performing city for recycling across the UK. Just 18% of household

01:40waste was reused, composted or recycled in 2022-23.