Cabinet:

2.1.     Agreed the draft proposals (Appendix 9 and paragraph 4 below) to implement weekly household food waste collections to all domestic properties in Havering, commencing rollout from October 2025.   

2.2.     Authorised delegation of capital spending and the commencement of a procurement process (at an estimated value of £3.2m) to the Director for Environment, to enable the purchase of vehicles, containers, and equipment.  This will adhere to the relevant procurement rules as appropriate.  

2.3.     Authorised the Director of Environment to take all necessary steps to complete the contact variation with FCC for the delivery of the food waste collection service. 

2.4.     Delegated the acceptance of any further funding whether revenue or capital from DEFRA monies to the Director of Environment, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment, Head of Finance and Director of Resources (s151). 

Report: Decision to implement domestic food waste collections, and delegate purchasing. 

Presented by: Councillor Barry Mugglestone, Cabinet Member for the Environment

Summary:

1.           The Environment Act 2021 requires all local authorities to implement weekly collections of food waste from all households by 1^st April 2026.  This decision report seeks approval for the rollout of food waste collections to residents, and delegate the procurement of vehicles, containers and equipment to deliver the service to the Director for Environment. This will reduce the potential for service delays as vehicle lead times are expected to increase as the year progresses, and will also allow the allocation of as-yet unconfirmed amounts of revenue funding.  The service is also currently analysing the results of a customer survey, and this report will enable the results of that survey to feed into the service design and communications planning. 

1.1.     The initial purchasing of vehicles, containers and equipment is expected to cost £3.2m based on current market rates, however, will be subject to appropriate procurement procedures. Havering Council has received £1.894m of capital funding from DEFRA, with Havering including capital funding of up to £4.650m to cover any shortfall. Officers continue to lobby DEFRA to plug the funding gap accordingly, and any unspent internal capital funds will be released if not needed.   

1.2. A contract variation will be required for the Council’s waste contractor, FCC to deliver the service, which is anticipated to commence in October 2025 at a cost of £2.7m per annum.  This decision also seeks approval for the Director of Environment to carry out all necessary contractual arrangements with FCC to complete the contract variation. 

1.2.     Whilst the food waste service is a mandatory requirement on the Council to deliver, residents have been surveyed to understand any barriers to participating in the service, and how communications will be best received, with a summary provided in Appendix 8.  The survey is based on proposals, laid out in Appendix 9. 

Cabinet:

2.1.     Agreed the draft proposals (Appendix 9 and paragraph 4 below) to implement weekly household food waste collections to all domestic properties in Havering, commencing rollout from October 2025.   

2.2.     Authorised delegation of capital spending and the commencement of a procurement process (at an estimated value of £3.2m) to the Director for Environment, to enable the purchase of vehicles, containers, and equipment.  This will adhere to the relevant procurement rules as appropriate.  

2.3.     Authorised the Director of Environment to take all necessary steps to complete the contact variation with FCC for the delivery of the food waste collection service. 

2.4.     Delegated the acceptance of any further funding whether revenue or capital from DEFRA monies to the Director of Environment, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment, Head of Finance and Director of Resources (s151).