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

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will (a) bring forward legislative proposals to require local authorities to provide food waste bins and (b) allocate funding to local authorities to provide those waste bins.

The Government set out its commitment to working towards zero food waste to landfill by 2030 in the Resources and Waste Strategy which we published in 2018.

Our recent ‘consultation on consistency in household and business recycling collections in England’ sought views on the collection of food waste from households. The majority of respondents were in favour of this measure. Government has therefore said that it will bring in legislation so that all English local authorities have a duty to collect food waste separately from other waste every week so that this food waste can be recycled or composted.

The Government has committed to funding any new additional burdens arising from this new statutory duty to local authorities including provision of equipment such as food waste bins.