Earlier this month, the council warned its spiralling financial situation could leave residents paying off debt for decades.
Vasmer said since 2023, the authority had worked closely with Defra and the council’s waste contractor Veolia to find the most cost-effective weekly food waste service.
“In our dialogue with Defra we have raised concerns about the mechanism and amount of revenue to operate the service in the long term,” he said.
“We were told that this would be covered by funding that could only be spent on the collection of food waste.”
Vasmer said separate funding had been provided which included for vehicles and bins, but the recent settlement “failed to provide any revenue funding for a weekly food waste service”.
“To start the service from April this year would place a significant financial risk on the council at a time when it already faces unprecedented financial pressure on existing services,” he added.