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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of local authorities charging homeowners to dispose of garden waste.

Local authorities have had the option to charge for a garden waste collection since 1992, as per the Controlled Waste (England & Wales) Regulations [2012]. As stated in our most recently published Final Impact Assessment for Simpler Recycling, around 65% of local authorities charged for garden waste collections in 2018/19.

In 2021, the Government consulted on introducing free garden waste collections for all households in England. We explored the impact of this policy in our Final Impact Assessment which included evidence that the average garden waste yield for local authorities who provide a charged service is lower when compared to yields associated with a free service. However, the impact assessment identified that overall, there was not a sufficient economic or environmental case to require local authorities to offer a free garden waste collection service.

Officials are working with WRAP to develop guidance on what is a reasonable charge for garden waste collection and will continue to review the evidence on uptake on garden waste services.