Funding agreed to support rollout of district-wide food waste collections in North West Leicestershire

"Every local authority in England is required to introduce weekly separate food waste collections by 31 March 2026."

North West Leicestershire District Council’s Cabinet has agreed to allocate additional funding ahead of the rollout of mandatory separate food waste collections in England.

The request for £92,072 was approved at the cabinet meeting on Tuesday 20 August, and will be allocated from the council’s business rates reserve fund. 

Councillor Michael Wyatt, Deputy Leader and Communities and Climate Change Portfolio Holder at NWLDC, said: "Whilst I was disappointed to hear that our appeal to Defra for the funding to cover the shortfall had been rejected, I am pleased that we have found a way forward using the council’s reserves.

“Every local authority in England is required to introduce weekly separate food waste collections by 31 March 2026. Our trial of these collections has helped residents to support our green agenda and demonstrated the huge environmental benefits this service will have when it is rolled out nationwide.

“This cabinet recommendation leads the way to securing the funding we need to build on the success of our weekly food waste collection trial and replicate it for all households across the district.”

The money will be used to cover a shortfall in funding to buy food waste containers and collection vehicles required to provide separate weekly food waste collections by the end of March 2026.

The council has already been awarded £1.062 million from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) new burdens capital grant to support the rollout of the new collections however there is a shortfall of £92,000.