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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what his planned timetable is for when councils will receive (a) transitional funding and (b) revenue support to develop food waste collection services compliant with new waste regulations in the Environment Act 2021.

Collecting food waste separately from residual waste allows us to send it for anaerobic digestion or composting. This reduces the amount of food waste going to landfill, where it releases harmful greenhouse gases, helping to achieve our Net Zero strategy target to eliminate biodegradable waste sent to landfill from 2028. Treating food waste through anaerobic digestion provides greater carbon savings than Energy from Waste treatment and, unlike incineration, it also produces digestate which can be spread to land as a fertiliser.

The Government has already brought forward £261.7 million of capital transitional funding to support the introduction of weekly food waste collections in the purchasing of bins and vehicles.

We have announced £79.5 million of funding, covering the costs of procurement, project management, communications and container delivery across 24/25 and 25/26.