Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to make funding available for a free garden waste disposal service for households.

We have recently consulted on whether households in England generating garden waste should be provided with a free garden waste collection service, as part of proposals to increase consistency in recycling. If introduced, we propose that this would be a minimum fortnightly collection service of a 240-litre capacity container (either a bin or a sack) throughout the growing season. Further capacity or more frequent collections could be charged for by the local authority.

Responses at consultation generated a range of views on a free minimum garden waste collection service. We will therefore give further consideration to the costs and benefits of this measure before making a final decision. We are preparing to consult further on recycling consistency proposals in 2021.

The Government has committed to covering the costs of any additional burdens that local authorities would face as a result of any new duties to arrange for the collection of garden waste separately for recycling. This is in keeping with the New Burdens Doctrine which requires new burdens on local authorities to be properly assessed and fully funded, so that there will be no increase in council tax as a result of the policy.