Every Norfolk council that was asked to introduce weekly food waste collections by today has failed to meet the government\u2019s deadline \u2013 despite receiving a combined \u00a36.16 million in grants to fund the transition.<\/p>\n
Breckland, South Norfolk, North Norfolk and Great Yarmouth were all instructed to offer residents a separate food waste collection service by March 31.<\/p>\n
It comes as new government guidelines require all councils across the country to offer the new measures, in what has been described as one of the biggest shake-up to recycling policy in England in 20 years.<\/p>\n
Every Norfolk council that was asked to introduce weekly food waste collections by today has failed to meet the government\u2019s deadline. Picture: iStock<\/p>\n
Nationally, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) handed out more than \u00a3340 million in grants to help councils make the switch.<\/p>\n
Four Norfolk councils alone received more than \u00a36 million of that pot, yet none managed to meet the deadline.<\/p>\n
Norwich City, Broadland and West Norfolk councils have already been operating the scheme for an extended period, and received a minimal amount of financial support.<\/p>\n
Breckland, South Norfolk, North Norfolk and Great Yarmouth all point to the same reason as to why they missed the deadline, however.<\/p>\n
They claim a national \u201crush to market\u201d for specialist food waste vehicles, with hundreds of authorities placing orders simultaneously, overwhelmed manufacturers.<\/p>\n
Great Yarmouth \u2013 which has held Norfolk\u2019s worst recycling rate for more than a decade \u2013 says it won\u2019t have its fleet fully prepared until January 2027.<\/p>\n
A spokesman added that delays in government funding also compounded the council\u2019s struggles.<\/p>\n
North Norfolk expects to launch food waste recycling this autumn, while Breckland and South Norfolk are targeting summer and September respectively.<\/p>\n
Norfolk\u2019s councils also argue that the county\u2019s rural character makes the new waste collection difficult, and some have questioned the legitimacy of the scheme in less sparsely populated parts of the county.<\/p>\n
One council spokesman said that in rural areas, lorries are having to travel miles between collections, meaning fuel and operational costs may outweigh the environmental benefit.<\/p>\n
Nationally, 79 English councils \u2013 one in four \u2013 missed the same deadline.<\/p>\n
DEFRA told the BBC that non-compliant councils risk judicial review, but acknowledged they are accountable to their electorate, not ministers.<\/p>\n
WHAT CAN YOU PUT IN BINS AHEAD OF THE COLLECTION CHANGES<\/p>\n
Recycling bin:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Newspapers, magazines and telephone directories<\/p>\n
\u2022 Paper and clean cardboard<\/p>\n
\u2022 Plastic bottles (such as drinks, detergent, shampoo and plastic milk bottles \u2013 leave the lids on)<\/p>\n
\u2022 Steel and aluminium food and drinks cans<\/p>\n
\u2022 Empty aerosols<\/p>\n
\u2022 Glass bottles and jars (leave the tops on)<\/p>\n
\u2022 Plastic food pots, tubs and trays (such as yoghurt pots, ice cream containers and margarine tubs)<\/p>\n
\u2022 Waxed cartons and Tetra Paks (such as those used for juices and soups)<\/p>\n
\u2022 Foil and foil trays<\/p>\n
\u2022 Shredded paper<\/p>\n
\u2022 Envelopes (including window type), greetings cards and junk mail<\/p>\n
\u2022 Wrapping paper<\/p>\n
Leftover food waste caddy:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Leftovers<\/p>\n
\u2022 Fruit and vegetable peelings and cores<\/p>\n
\u2022 Egg shells and salad<\/p>\n
\u2022 Coffee grounds and teabags<\/p>\n
\u2022 Meat and fish (including bones), cooked and uncooked<\/p>\n
\u2022 Out-of-date or mouldy food<\/p>\n
General rubbish bin<\/p>\n
Use your rubbish bin for anything that doesn\u2019t go in your recycling bins or food waste caddy. For example:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Broken crockery<\/p>\n
\u2022 Food pouches<\/p>\n
\u2022 Nappies<\/p>\n
\u2022 Pet waste<\/p>\n
\u2022 Vacuum dust and sweepings<\/p>\n
\u2022 Broken toys<\/p>\n
\u2022 Polystyrene<\/p>\n
\u2022 Glassware and Pyrex<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every Norfolk council that was asked to introduce weekly food waste collections by today has failed to meet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[242,85,46,238,141],"class_list":{"0":"post-370489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-politics","12":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}