Cllr Peter Chegwyn slammed the government’s “Simpler Recycling” scheme as “everything but simple” as his council launched its plans for food waste collections at a community and environment board meeting on November 12.
The head of waste services, Colin Bead said the collection of food waste by local authorities was due to start in April 2026, but once agreement is confirmed with the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the council’s deadline will be extended to October 2026.
Leader of the council, Councillor Peter Chegwyn (Lib Dem, Forton) said: “We have been placed in an impossible position, as are many other councils and we are being asked to do things for an unachievable time scale without the financial resources.
“The government has set an impossible timetable and there is not enough funding to be doing this.”
While the council is receiving a capital grant of £670,000 to buy vehicles and containers for the food waste collection, there is a £70,000 shortfall and the real problem is the money to fund the recycling going forward, said the council leader.
Cllr Chegwyn said: “The costs could be enormous. We do not know what money we will get.”
The board approved the recommendations from the head of waste services which shall now go before the policy and organisation board. It includes ordering four new vehicles and 72,000 food waste containers as soon as possible and to agree implementation plans for food waste collections from October 2026.
Mr Bead said even if the vehicles and containers are ordered within the next few weeks, they will not be delivered before June or July 2026.
The council has acknowledged the need for extra resources, stating that four additional collection rounds will initially be required to collect food waste weekly from 38,000 properties.
The meeting discussed the second phase of the project, which involves reviewing the collection of dry mixed recycling for disposable by Hampshire County Council (HCC).
However, this phase of the scheme has been delayed as the council must await the construction of HCC’s £50.5 million twin-stream material recovery facility, in Eastleigh.
This facility, which will be able to handle kerbside dry mixed waste such as glass, will not be ready until April 2028.
Councillor Chegwyn said the delay means implementing this part of the service coincides with the government’s local reorganisation plans.
He said the new service may need to be delivered by the new authority and not the current council.