Cheshire East Council proposal to reduce black bin collections

Cheshire East Council is looking to consult on plans to alter the frequency black bins are collected to help save more than £1 million a year.

The black bin consultation will be discussed by the council's environment and communities committee, which will also consider a report seeking approval to collect food waste every week.

This follows the ‘Simpler Recycling Scheme’ legislation announced in October 2023, requiring all local authorities to collect food waste on a weekly basis by no later than April 1, 2026.

Cllr Mick Warren, chair of the environment and communities committee, said: “Introducing weekly food waste collections is a significant operational change affecting almost all our residents, and the financial impacts will also be significant.

“At the moment, we don’t know how much funding we will receive from Government to compensate the council for introducing these changes, and there’s a significant risk that the funding won’t cover the costs in full.

The council's environment and communities committee will consider plans to move forward with the food waste collections next week (Image: Cheshire East Council)

“Any shortfall will place an even bigger pressure on the council’s finances – we’re already forecasting a funding gap of £100m over the next four years.

"That’s why – along with wishing to encourage people to reduce, reuse and recycle more of their waste – at the same time as weekly food waste collections are introduced, we’re proposing to move to collecting black bins once every three weeks.

"It offers the best value for money and would reduce the demand on our existing fleet of bin wagons and staff and make a significant revenue saving in excess of £1 million per year."

The food waste plans would see it collected alongside the fortnightly garden bin rounds, with a separate food waste round in the alternate weeks.

It is also hoped the changes to the black bin collections could increase recycling rates by almost five per cent.

Should the black bin proposal be implemented, the changes would be delivered at the same time as the weekly food waste collections begin.

In late 2023, a consultation was launched by the Government which included draft guidance requiring councils to collect residual waste (black bins) each fortnight as a minimum.

The council responded, saying this would have a ‘detrimental impact’ on the ability of councils to boost recycling rates.

Cllr Warren added: “We understand, as a local authority, if the guidance is passed by Government through the Parliamentary process, we could not make these proposed changes to black bin collections.

“However, we are proposing to carry out this consultation now so that we are in a position to move forward with what is the most cost effective and least risky solution for introducing weekly food waste collections, which can also meet the deadline previously set by the Government.”

If the report is approved by the committee, a public consultation on black bin collections is expected to launch in September.

The feedback will be considered before final proposals are developed and brought back to the committee for a decision later this year.