Plans for food waste collections moving forward

Wirral Council has been working alongside counterparts from the other Liverpool City Region authorities as preparations for the introduction of household food waste collections get into gear.

From April 1st 2026, it will be mandatory for all councils in the country to collect food waste from households separately to other bin collections.

As a member of the Liverpool City Region Waste & Resources Partnership, Wirral Council has been working in collaboration with the Merseyside Recycling Waste Authority (MRWA) and other local authorities to prepare for the change, including St Helens which is the only council in the region that already collects food waste.

At a meeting next week, members of the Environment, Climate Emergency and Transport Committee will be asked to authorise the council’s Director of Neighbourhood Services to proceed with the joint procurement of the necessary equipment and vehicles to deliver the service from next year across the whole city region.

They will also be asked to agree a variation to the council’s contract with Biffa to enable them to carry out the collections in Wirral until that contract expires in August 2027.

Individual authorities have already been allocated capital funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to purchase the equipment and vehicles necessary.

However, as the Liverpool City Region has been looking at this issue jointly, it was suggested that six council partners should jointly procure the food waste bins, caddies and vehicles required. 

Working in partnership would provide a more efficient approach as there will be only one procurement exercise needed instead of six. And it will also ensure a co-ordinated approach to the manufacturing process, which is important at a time when all local authorities are trying to buy equipment and vehicles at the same time.

One of the environmental benefits from collecting food waste separately from every household is that it will reduce contamination of other waste which could be usefully recycled. This will ensure that, in future, food waste can be sent to anaerobic digestion facilities generating sustainable energy to power homes and businesses rather than being needlessly lost to landfill.

In addition, the vehicles that will be procured for use in Wirral are diesel-powered but come with an option to convert to Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) in the future. The collections, treatment and disposal process produces gas emissions, so in order to better enable the Council to profile and reduce emissions, including that from waste, a requirement for annual reporting of carbon emissions will be incorporated into the contract variation and any future contracts.

As April 2026 approaches, residents will find out more about how the new collection service will work in practice with a communications and engagement campaign to be financed through funding from DEFRA. This should ensure all households understand what they need to do to have food waste collected separately when the changes come into force.

It is the Environment Act 2021 that has placed these new requirements on local authorities to collect a wider range of materials from households, which includes a wide range of recyclable items, including food waste.