Councillors will discuss proposals to change waste and recycling collections in the borough in 2026 at a meeting of Solihull Council’s Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday 17 September.
The changes proposed follow guidance issued by the previous government on how waste and recycling should be collected.
One of the changes to be discussed at Scrutiny Committee is the introduction of a weekly food waste collection. The committee will also therefore consider aligning with the majority of authorities in the UK and reduce the frequency of household waste collections in the borough.
Currently, over 30% of residents’ non-recyclable waste is food waste, so it is proposed that the introduction of a weekly food waste collection will more than compensate for the reduction from a weekly to fortnightly rubbish collection.
To support the introduction of the weekly food waste collection it is proposed that the Council provides all households with a free 7-litre food waste caddy for their kitchen and a free 23- litre caddy to present at the kerbside. Householders living in flats will be provided with a kitchen caddy and a shared communal container.
It is proposed that the collections will be carried out by a dedicated food waste collection fleet powered by hydrotreated/hydrogenated vegetable oil, using funding from the UK government (Defra). The collected food waste will be processed at an anaerobic digestion facility to produce both a nutrient rich substance for use as fertiliser in agriculture/horticulture and a biogas which can be used to generate electricity.
The report also includes a proposal that councillors consider changes to garden waste collections at a later date. This is in line with national guidance which states that councils do not need to provide a free garden waste collection service for all households.
In advance of these national changes to waste and recycling collections, the Council carried out a five-week residents survey over the summer, to understand how best to support people when these changes come in.
Solihull Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment and Infrastructure, Cllr Ken Hawkins, said:
“At the moment food waste accounts for nearly a third of our weekly rubbish collections. If we can get behind these measures, we can reduce our waste and turn vegetable peelings and dinner leftovers into electricity and fertiliser for farming. This approach will help combat climate change and recover valuable resources from our waste.
“I know that some people will find these changes difficult, but we are proposing to start them in autumn 2026, so we have a whole two years to prepare and secure the relevant funding and take steps to deal with the concerns people may have.
“Our recent survey showed there is an appetite in the borough for change, with 94% of residents taking part saying that they try to reduce waste and 74% saying that we should be recycling more so I am confident that we can do this and do it well.”
Through these reforms, recycling will be easier as all local authorities in England will collect the same materials from every household for recycling.