Waste strategy: the new kerbside collection service

Following government updates, we have revised our plan for new waste and recycling collections. View the latest information about changes to recycling and rubbish collections. 

The actions set out in the strategy mean the way we collect waste and recycling from our residents is going to change.

But what does this mean and what will the expectations be on residents? 

Our core new service will be provided to the majority of our residents. For households whom the core collection service is not suitable for, the service will be varied.

The core new service will include:

New food waste collections

Food waste will be collected weekly for recycling. We will provide a 7 litre caddy which can be used in kitchens, and a 23 litre caddy for collections.

The collection will be for food waste only, not including any food waste packaging.

Alternate week collections

Mixed recycling, and paper and card, will be collected one week. General waste will be collected the next.

Mixed recycling will be added to an 180 litre wheeled bin.

Mixed recycling will include:

• plastic bottles, pots, tubs and trays and film
• metal tins and cans
• glass, bottles and jars
• beverage cartons may also be collected as mixed recycling, subject to government requirements.

Paper and card will be collected in a 90 litre reusable bag. The bag will be waterproof and weighted.

Items which cannot be recycled will be collected as general waste in an 180 litre wheeled bin.

Garden waste collections

We will continue to provide our fortnightly subscription service for garden waste collections. Garden waste will be collected in a 240 litre wheeled bin.

Improved performance 

In the development of our new collection service, we have worked with experts to help us understand how these changes will improve performance.

Reducing carbon

As discussed before, both our current and proposed future services generate emissions (such as from collection vehicles) but there are also avoided emissions that would have been created if all waste were sent to incineration or landfill, rather than being recycled.

Our research into a new service included an environmental impact assessment using a carbon modelling tool.

This considered emissions created by: 

• collections, containers used for collections (bins, bags, boxes)
• transportation, vehicles for both collections and bulk transport
• intermediate facilities, waste transfer stations and material recovery facilities to cover the bulking and processing of recyclable materials
• treatment and recovery processing facilities, for example, energy from waste
• landfill, the impact of landfilling waste or by products

Avoided emissions through: 

• recycling, the benefits gained from the recycling of materials

The assessment resulted in estimates of both the emissions and the avoided emissions associated with our current and future service.

The assessment shows that:

• the emissions from both the current and future service are broadly the same
• the avoided emissions for the proposed service are greater than they are for the current service. This is because of the increase in recycling, and reduction in incineration
• both current and future services deliver an overall saving in CO2 emissions, but the future service is anticipated to deliver a greater saving

The current service saves an estimated 1,524 tonnes of carbon per year.

The future service is estimated to save 2,561 tonnes per year.

Increasing recycling

Considering our current service baseline data and using a waste collection service modelling tool, we have been able to establish that when fully implemented, our new collection service will see an increased recycling rate estimated at 55%.

This is in line with government targets for 2025.

Reducing waste

Modelling work also showed that the new collection service will reduce general waste levels collected at the kerbside.

In the New Forest, we collected a total of 36,000 tonnes of household waste during 2019 to 2020.

Using this as a baseline figure, we estimate general waste will reduce by 8,000 tonnes to 28,000 tonnes when the new collection system is fully implemented. 

We have also looked at our 2018 waste composition analysis data to understand the potential to reduce kerbside general waste.

The 2018 data showed that on average households in the New Forest set out 8.5kg of general waste per week.

1.64 kg (19%) of this could already have been recycled in the New Forest, either using the kerbside collection services or the bring banks provided.

If the government include all expected materials in their forthcoming consistency legislation, the new collection service will enable residents to recycle a further 4.35 kg (51%) of their general waste.

This includes 3.37 kg of food waste and 0.98kg of additional materials such as plastics, cartons and foil packaging.

This leaves on average 2.53 kg (30%) of non recyclable waste per household per week.

We realise that recovering 100% of all recyclable material will be difficult, however the new collection method will make it easier for us to restrict general waste and communicate to residents when services are used incorrectly.

Legislative and regulatory compliance

A collection service that prioritises waste prevention is compliant with our primary legislative driver, as set out in the waste hierarchy. This new collection system helps us do that by restricting general waste capacity using wheeled bins and reducing collection frequency, both measures are proven to elicit behaviour change and prevent waste.

The inclusion of a food waste collection service, a wider range of dry recyclable materials, and the separation of paper and cardboard, means our new collection service is compliant with the Environment Act 2021. 

Health and Safety Executive research recommends that in order to minimise musculoskeletal injuries, where possible wheeled bins should be used for waste and recycling instead of bags and boxes.

The provision of wheeled bins for general waste, recycling and garden waste satisfies this regulatory recommendation and helps protect operatives from the risks associated with a sack collection.