NEW MEASURES on food waste collections for households across Wychavon will be delayed for two years to allow for a smoother and more cost-effective rollout of the service.
Under central Government efforts to simplify and improve recycling, all councils in England should offer a separate weekly food waste collection from April 1, 2026.
The new measures will include households being offered a separate bin or caddy for food waste, alongside existing recycling and general waste collections.
However, Wychavon has written to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to inform them they will not meet the deadline to rollout the new waste collection system.
The council cited a combination of existing contractual constraints, uncertainty over government funding to run the service and Local Government Reorganisation as a reason for the delay.
Food waste collections will now start for Wychavon residents from April 2028, under new arrangements.
Wychavon says the option to rollout the service in April 2026 was explore but was not presenting good value for money to the taxpayer and could have potentially breached contract procurement rules.
Councillor Emma Stokes, Wychavon’s executive board member for resources, investment and innovation, said: “It is right we explore every possible option to introduce this new service in a way that delivers the best value for taxpayers.
“We’re committed to ensuring our residents receive the same high-quality waste and recycling collection service they always have from 1 April 2028 – whether Wychavon exists by then or not.
“While food waste recycling is helpful, cutting food waste altogether is even better – for the environment and people’s pockets.”
With a customer satisfaction score of 91 per cent, Wychavon’s current collection contract with FCC Environment ends on March 31, 2028.
Bringing in a separate contractor to provide food waste collections for two years was also considered but would be unlikely to result in a good financial deal for residents.
Wychavon is currently looking at options for delivering the waste collection service beyond April 2028 however this is complicated by Government instructions to abolish Wychavon and its fellow five district/city councils within Worcestershire at the exact same time.
