The move is designed to divert food waste away from incineration, which is a ‘carbon-intensive’ method that adds to carbon dioxide emissions
09:19, 19 Apr 2026Updated 09:19, 19 Apr 2026
Broxtowe Borough Council
A timeline has been set for a food recycling scheme to launch in a Nottinghamshire borough after problems with purchasing waste vehicles.
Broxtowe Borough Council is set to fully implement weekly food waste collections from October 2027, under the government’s Simpler Recycling plans.
The move is designed to divert food waste away from incineration, which is a ‘carbon-intensive’ method that adds to carbon dioxide emissions.
Instead, food waste will be treated through ‘anaerobic digestion’ which then produces biogas and biofertiliser and contributes to renewable goals.
Speaking in the authority’s cabinet meeting on Tuesday (April 14) Emma Georgiou, assistant director of environmental services at the authority, said the service is expected to deliver a “significant uplift” in the borough’s recycling rate.
Data published by the council says the borough’s recycling rate is projected to increase from 35 per cent to just over 45 per cent once the service is fully launched.
Eight new vehicles are needed for the full rollout of the new recycling scheme, including two spares in case of operational issues.
But the authority recently hit a snag with some of the vehicles, where three were not due to be delivered until January 2028 – after the October 2027 launch date.
Ms Georgiou said official rollout of the scheme in 2027 is now “back on track” after council officers worked “intensively” to identify a new supplier that could provide vehicles by the end of 2026 or early 2027.
A trial period for the scheme will take place in September 2026 before the full launch.
Broxtowe’s council was given just over £1 million from the government to implement the new food waste rules, where just over £700,000 of this was specifically allocated for purchasing the vehicles needed.
However, the authority says there have been “further significant increases” in vehicle prices, meaning the amount of money set aside for the scheme in 2026/27 was “no longer sufficient”, leaving a gap of £241,000 needing to be filled.
On Tuesday, Broxtowe’s cabinet was asked to approve this amount which would cover two food waste vehicles needed for the rollout.
Ms Georgiou said she had written to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and will be raising the money concerns with the wider Nottinghamshire waste group.
She also said the council was expecting “additional staffing costs” of around £1 million a year but had “no clarity” currently on how this would be funded.
Speaking in the meeting, Councillor Helen Skinner (Brox Alliance) said: “Wouldn’t it be nice if we were given the money to do it and we didn’t have to scratch around to try and get enough money and wouldn’t it be a sensible thing to foresee that vehicles are going to be in short supply when everybody wants them at the same time?”
Cllr Greg Marshall (Brox Alliance) called the scheme an “inherently good thing”, saying the UK produces more than nine million tonnes of food waste a year and adding it will “significantly shift” a change in recycling rates that “we won’t have seen for decades”.