New food waste collections and proposed changes to your bins
New wheelie bins
Lancaster City Council is preparing for some important changes to the way household waste and recycling is collected. These changes are being proposed to meet the Government’s new Simpler Recycling rules, which require all councils in England to collect food waste separately by March 2026.
What’s being proposed?
At a meeting on Tuesday 20 May, the council’s Cabinet will consider:
Introducing weekly food waste collections for all households
Replacing current recycling boxes with 240-litre wheelie bins
Moving to three-weekly collections for both recycling and general waste (grey bins)
These proposals aim to make recycling easier, reduce mess on the streets, and improve our environmental performance.
Why the change?
By collecting food waste weekly and giving residents larger recycling bins, we expect:
Less waste in grey bins
Higher recycling rates
A cleaner, more efficient collection service
Other councils that have made similar changes have seen big improvements in recycling and a reduction in overall waste — something we’re aiming to achieve here in the Lancaster district.
Supporting households through the change
If approved, every household will receive:
A free kitchen caddy to collect food scraps indoors
A new outdoor food waste bin
240-litre wheelie bins for recycling, one for paper/cardboard, and another for tins, plastic and glass.
The council has secured £1.46 million in government funding to support these changes, including the purchase of new collection vehicles and caddies.
Find Out More
If Cabinet gives the green light, we’ll be sharing more information and timelines over the coming months, and below are a series of FAQs that we hope will answer the majority of your questions. If you have a question that hasn't been answered below, please get in touch.
With the introduction of weekly food waste collections most of the weight currently collected in the black bin can be diverted to the food waste service. This will then reduce the amount of waste collected in black bin and make fortnightly collections less efficient.
If you are recycling as much as possible then we believe a three-weekly collection will provide plenty of space for most households. If you are struggling that you may be entitled to an additional bin, however, in order to qualify you will have to request a visit from our waste education officers who will be able to assess your individual needs.
You may be entitled to an additional bin and to qualify we will need to arrange a visit from our waste education officers who will be able to assess your individual needs.
You will have an internal caddy with compostable bags.When the internal caddy is full you would then tie the bag and place in the external caddy which we will collect on your assigned collection day each week.
Having food waste collected each week should provide more space in your residual bins, and with the introduction of larger 240L recycling bins you now have more weekly capacity than was provided on the old fortnightly boxes system.
As we do now, we will come back to collect provided the crew have not reported any issues. Issues that may exclude a return include the bin not being presented for collection at the required time or the bin’s contents being deemed contaminated.
No. With food waste being removed from people’s black bins and the provision of wheelie bins for recycling we expect people to have more than enough space for their waste and recycling.
There is no evidence to suggest that residents will see an increase in vermin or other pests. With the introduction of a weekly food waste collection service the waste that contributes to these issues should be diverted from the three weekly residual service into the weekly food waste collection service.
No. The cost of providing the service will remain roughly the same as it is now. We are making the changes in an effort to increase the council’s recycling rates and reduce the amount of waste that currently goes to landfill.
Yes, an increasing number of councils in England, Scotland and Wales have three-weekly collections for general waste, with some in Wales and Scotland having four-weekly collections.
