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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2024 to Question 16313 on Domestic Waste: Waste Disposal, what support is available to borough councils to meet their obligation to provide food waste disposal.

In February of this year, we provided £258m of capital funding to waste collection authorities to help with the purchasing of bins and vehicles. It is our intention to provide transitional resource funding for the 2024/25 early in the new year and funding for 2025/26 early in the financial year. Subject to agreement, we plan to fund LAs for reasonable costs of procurement, project management, communications and container delivery. Funding for ongoing resource funding from 1 April 2026 is subject to agreement through a spending review.

We are aware that some local authorities may find the introduction of the reforms more challenging than others. We want to work with local authorities to support them in overcoming any difficulties they might face in relation to compliance within the legislative timeframes.

We are also working with sector specialists WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme) to provide guidance on best practice and scope additional areas of support.