Every three weeks bin collections for Lancaster and Morecambe District approved

A plan to move from fortnightly to every three weeks bin collections across the Lancaster and Morecambe District has been given the thumbs up.

Councillors on Lancaster City Council cabinet agreed the change at a meeting on Tuesday evening.

The revamp will see small recycling boxes replaced with new 240 litre wheelie bins for glass, plastic and tins; and cardboard and paper.

Black/grey bins for general waste will be collected every three weeks from households instead of the current fortnightly collections.

The other recycling bins would also move onto a cycle of collections every three weeks.

Lancaster City Council said this is because would be more space in each bin for householders to store rubbish, and they will provide households with a red-lidded wheelie bin (plastics, glass and cans) and a yellow-lidded wheelie bin (paper and cardboard), as part of the roll-out, at no cost.

The council also said the reintroduction of separate food waste bins and weekly collections of them - as part of a government initiative - would also mean people would throw away less once they start recycling food waste every week.

Changes are expected to come into effect from March 31 2026.

Proposals to change the frequency of bin collections, in an effort to improve recycling rates across the District, were announced last week.

Read more: Major shake-up to household bin collections being mooted - Beyond Radio

An outpouring of comments on Beyond Radio social media followed, with the majority not in favour of the plans.

Darren said: "Not every resident has space for three or four large bins!"

Sidonie said: "Oh lovely, has anyone thought of homes with multiple babies/children with additional needs in nappies sat festering in the grey bins for three weeks?"

Marion said: "Definitely be a bigger rodent problem coming if we are having to leave smelly waste for three weeks!"

Davina said: "Is this why our council taxes have gone up, to pay for this?"

Clare said: "People complaining about the cost and the council tax: easiest way to save money is to not create waste in the first place that then needs dealing with."

As reported by Beyond Radio in February, small food waste 'caddies' are set to return to households across the District as part of a nationwide drive to boost recycling.

Each household will receive a free caddy to keep in their kitchen, which can be emptied it into a new outside food waste bin, also provided by the council, once full, and collected weekly.

The changes are to comply with the Government's 'Simpler Recycling' scheme which aims to create consistency in the way recycling is collected.

Councils across England must begin collecting food waste by March 31 2026.

The Lancaster City Council cabinet is made up of an alliance of Green, Liberal Democrat and Morecambe Bay Independent councillors.

During Tuesday's meeting at Morecambe Town Hall, Councillor Peter Jackson (below) asked if the council will provide compostable bags for the food caddies.

Will Griffith, chief officer for environment and place, said bags will be provided free of charge in the first year, and then this will be monitored thereafter to decide if it should continue or if bags should become chargeable.

Councillor Nick Wilkinson then asked if any local public consultation had been carried out.

Mr Griffith said none had been carried out - as "we've been told by central government that we have to make the change".

But, he said, "once a decision is made, that's the point that we move into the implementation phase and consultation".

"Not a 'one size fits all' approach will work for everybody," said Mr Griffith.

Mark Davies, chief executive, said the government's strategy had been through extensive consultation which local authorities had responded to, and was "open to the public as well".

Councillor Sam Riches (below) said she had been looking at the public response to the proposed changes, on social media.

"People who have lived here for more than 10-12 years will remember the food waste recycling we had before," she said.

"We need to get confidence that it isn't going to come here and go away again, and in terms of what we actually mean by food waste."

Mr Griffith said the council has a communications strategy to "make it simple for people to understand" and the city council had worked with Lancashire County Council to have "a consistent and clear message across the whole of Lancashire".

Councillor Riches said she was concerned about the "need for exceptions".

"People who are living in flats or in terraced housing with very small yards, it may not be appropriate for them to have wheeled bins for recycling," she said.

"The other side of it is large households, and I have seen some concerns that moving from fortnightly to three-weekly grey bin collection is going to be a problem for them."

Mr Griffith said the council will be "looking to talk to people, speak to as many people as possible who live in those areas, as we do now, to try to understand what they need...I envisage a lot of engagement moving forward".

He said communal areas have been designed to "deal with waste reduction across HMOs (Houses of Multiple Occupancy) and flats".

The cabinet had three possible options to choose from.

The preferred proposal by council officers, was a new cycle of collections every three weeks - separately covering the main recycling bin, paper/card, and plastics/tins/glass.

The other options were to keep the current system of a fortnightly collection of the taller black/grey bin, and similar fortnightly pick ups of the smaller green boxes; or to collect the main rubbish bin every three weeks, and other recyclables on an 'alternate fortnightly' basis meaning separate plastics/tins/glass and paper/card collections every four weeks.

Councillor Paul Hart proposed that the cycle of collections every three weeks should be agreed.

"I am very much in favour of this and enthusiastic about it," he said.

Councillor Wilkinson said the change to three-weekly collections would be "a good step in the right direction" towards "the aspiration of zero waste to landfill by 2050".

Councillor Peter Jackson said it was "arguably the best option from the point of view of increasing recycling" but said it would be a "major task" and there would be a "lot of educational work to do with the public to get the best results".

Councillor Martin Bottoms said "initially I was opposed to moving (from fortnightly) to three-weekly (grey bin collections), but I think the plans for education and the initial support of bags to help people keep control of the smells, because of that I will be supporting the motion".

Councillor Riches said "there are times when you need to be brave".

"It is going to be a big change, but I think there's so many really strong arguments for doing it."

Councillor Caroline Jackson, council leader, said: "The flexibility of the response is what has made me feel confident that this can happen, and the assurance that those who've got special needs (for) collection are going to have the service they had before."

Councillors then voted unanimously in favour of the proposal, which also included agreeing its funding.

An additional recommendation, to form a cross-party waste collection policy implementation group to consult with residents, was also passed.

A similar scheme to recycle food waste separately was scrapped in 2016.

At the time, it was said the scheme was axed because mixing food waste in with garden waste meant it has to be sent to special indoor composting facilities, where the composting took place at a controlled temperature.

This was necessary to kill any bacteria in the food waste and control the potential spread of disease like foot and mouth.

The council has received around £1.46m in funding from the government to support the roll-out of food waste collections and this will be used to purchase new vehicles and food waste caddies for households.

A further £989,000 to be received in 2025/26 will cover expenditure such as staffing, day to day vehicle costs, marketing and education.

A council budget of £2.208m has been put aside for the wheelie bin element of the plans.

The cabinet is also being asked to implement the plans by March 31 2026 - the same date as the government's deadline on introducing food waste collection.

A report, published ahead of the cabinet meeting, said: "Lancaster City Council currently collects residual waste fortnightly in 240ltr wheelie bins, with paper and card, and plastics and cans being collected separately in 55ltr boxes, from 63,649 properties, of which 600 are registered Housing of Multiple Occupancy and 340 properties within flats.

"The budgeted net cost for delivering the household waste collection service for 2025/26 is currently c.£3.8m.

"Garden Waste is collected on a fortnightly subscription basis in 240ltr wheelie bins.

"In the 2024/2025 financial year, this generated £1.094m in income which assists significantly in offsetting the total cost of the wider service. The garden waste delivery model will not be changed as a result of this report.

"Lancaster City Council currently collects around 9,000 tonnes of recycling per annum and has a recycling rate of 36 per cent, which is in the bottom quartile both nationally and regionally.

"This represents a steady decline from a peak of 41 per cent in 2015/16.

"In comparison, the district’s current residual waste collection is around 32,000 tonnes, equating to around 538kg per household, which again is in the bottom quartile both nationally and regionally.

"Under the new government strategy, a baseline recycling target of 60 per cent has been set by 2035 with an ambition to half all residual waste sent to landfill or incineration by 2042."

More information on the proposed changes and FAQs are available on the council’s website HERE.

For more details in the pre-meeting cabinet report see HERE.