Walsall residents won’t get weekly food waste collections next month despite government deadline

Under the Environment Act 2021, it is mandatory for all local authorities to offer the service by March 31, 2026.

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But as the deadline looms, no correspondence has been shared with Walsall residents and no bins have been issued.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the authority said future arrangements for the service will be ‘confirmed later this year’.

Tory cabinet members were first presented with two options for the new service in April 2025.

Option one would see residents issued with a small kitchen caddy for daily use and a larger kerbside caddy that is presented weekly for collection.

It was estimated that option one would require additional revenue funding of £1.7m.

The second, more expensive, option was to introduce weekly mixed brown bin collections of food and garden waste.

It was estimated that option two would require an additional revenue funding of £2.6m.

Cabinet members at the time under the leadership of Garry Perry approved option one because it was cheaper.

But at a scrutiny committee meeting, councillors raised concerns about rat infestations, foxes getting into the caddies and people kicking them over.

Councillor Mike Bird, who at the time was not leader of the council, heavily criticised decision-makers for not considering installing a biomass and anaerobic digestion machine at the new Household Waste Recycling Centre in Aldridge.

At the meeting he said: “I plead with the cabinet, really plead with them, to say, look, this is not the best option, other options are available to us.”

Councillor Bird put forward the recommendation of allocating £100,000 to look into alternatives, to which members voted unanimously in favour of.

The move brought the decision back before cabinet members in May 2025, where members rejected the recommendation and continued with its plan of option one.

A couple of weeks later Garry Perry resigned as leader, was replaced by Councillor Mike Bird, and a new cabinet was created.

On his appointment Councillor Bird described the food waste collection plans as ‘utterly unpopular’ and that he would look into alternatives.

In September 2025, Walsall Council launched a consultation with residents to ask whether they would prefer option one or option two.

Option one was presented with incentives such as being able to bag food waste in any plastic bag, free collection of small electrical items, all at the same cost of £1.7million per year.

Option two was presented with several drawbacks such as mandatory compostable bags for the food waste, no free collection of electrical items, and a new estimated cost of £3.5million, as opposed to the earlier figure of £2.6million.

A spokesperson for Walsall Council said: “The decision taken by cabinet in 2025 to introduce separate food waste collections, rather than a co-mingled food and garden waste service, is under review.

“The results of a public consultation are being reviewed alongside an assessment of delivery options and associated market considerations.

“We expect to confirm the future arrangements for weekly food waste collections later this year.”