Posted on Wednesday 11th June 2025
A new waste disposal framework will save taxpayers money and help reduce the amount of food waste sent to energy recovery facilities.
The new strategy, which will be discussed at Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet meeting, will cover the whole of Staffordshire for the first time and is in response to the new national Simpler Recycling Regulations 2025.
This mandates that every local authority in England must collect food waste from households on a weekly basis, to simplify collections and increase recycling rates.
Currently, food waste collection methods vary across Staffordshire's local authorities, ranging from food waste being mixed in with general waste, to being part of garden waste collections. Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council is the only authority that currently collects food waste separately.
Under the proposed framework, one contract will be developed across the whole of the county. This will mean less administration and contract management, saving taxpayers money and encouraging more food waste to be recycled.
It also means a unified approach to recycling food waste across the county.
Staffordshire County Council Cabinet Member for Connectivity Andrew Mynors said:
"This framework for food waste disposal will develop one contract to cover the whole of Staffordshire. This means we can comply with national regulations, and also save money in the long-run on administration and contract management costs. It also means a unified approach to food waste collection across the county, ending the different systems we currently see.
“We can also encourage our communities to change their behaviour when it comes to waste, and reduce the amount going to energy recovery by around 20,000 tonnes."
The strategy will be discussed at Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet meeting on 18 June.