The reasons Notts is years behind the rest in getting new bin collections

Nottinghamshire residents will face over a year’s delay – whilst those in the city face an even longer wait

New government rules requiring all councils to carry out weekly food waste collections have come into force across the country – but households in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire won’t be getting one for years.

People living in the county will have to wait around a year and a half until their food waste collection service begins, whilst the city’s scheme will not be fully up and running until the end of the decade.

Dozens of councils across the country have said they are not ready to provide the food waste collection service and the government has threatened judicial review for authorities not meeting the March 31 deadline – but councils across Nottinghamshire and Nottingham have an agreement for their deadline extensions.

Why are food waste collections coming in?

The previous Conservative government announced nearly £300 million of funding for councils to support them in meeting the March 31, 2026, deadline to bring in weekly kerbside food waste collections.

A report from the Energy Institute earlier this year found that if the UK recovered all of its available food waste, around 10 million tonnes a year, it could produce enough energy to power millions of homes.

The government’s ‘Simpler Recycling’ programme aims to make recycling easier to understand by ensuring all English councils carry out the same bin collections.

The initiative has two key requirements affecting Nottinghamshire councils – the need for a dedicated kerbside food waste collection and the need for a kerbside glass collection.

Many councils already carried out glass collections and, for those that did not, primarily Rushcliffe and Bassetlaw, services have now been rolled out.

The food waste collections have proved more complex for Nottinghamshire’s councils.

Why is Nottingham’s food waste collection delayed?

Nottingham City Council has a contract with WasteNotts, a subsidiary of the FCC Environment firm that has run Nottingham’s Eastcroft waste incinerator since 1998, which means starting a new city-wide waste collection is a challenge.

Eastcroft was first opened in the 1970s under a partnership between the city council and the National Coal Board.

Around 4,000 tonnes of Nottingham’s household waste is burnt at Eastcroft every week, and the resulting steam is transferred to a heat station, generating electricity to power thousands of homes.

The city council says it will launch a procurement process to replace the waste treatment capacity before the WasteNotts contract expires in 2030.

A Nottingham City Council report confirms it is this contract that has caused the delay to the food waste service, with the government saying such contracts can present a ‘barrier’ to introducing new collections.

Nottingham City Council now says that its food waste collection service will not be fully operational for all households until 2030, with a phased rollout beginning from March 2028.

Why are food waste collections across Nottinghamshire delayed?

The district and borough councils across Nottinghamshire responsible for collecting waste also have a “complex contractual relationship” which is hindering their ability to get a food waste service up and running.

Veolia has run waste management and treatment for Nottinghamshire’s seven districts and boroughs on behalf of the county council since 2006.

All Nottinghamshire councils have been given an extended deadline of October 2027 because of the complexity of the Veolia relationship.