Wiltshire's recycling collection to change from 2027

Wiltshire Council’s Cabinet has agreed its future approach to collecting recycling when its current contracts to carry out this service come to an end in 2026.

Once the changes are introduced in 2027 it should result in a significant reduction in annual revenue expenditure, increased income from commodity sales, improved recycling rate, simplification of the recycling sorting process and significant reduction in carbon emissions.

Wiltshire Council has carried out extensive research and options assessment in order to identify the future recycling collection method that presented the best opportunity for successful implementation and allow the county’s residents to recycle as much as possible from the kerbside.

Based on all of the evidence assessed, Cabinet has agreed that Wiltshire Council adopt ‘Three Stream’ recycling collections during the next contract period. This means from 2027 it is anticipated that residents would be asked to present recycling in one wheeled bin or weighted reusable sack for paper and cardboard, a second wheeled bin or weighted reusable sack for mixed plastics, cans, cartons, and bagged flexible plastics, and a box for glass. Currently, most Wiltshire residents already use a blue-lidded wheeled bin for mixed recycling and have a box for the collection of glass. Cabinet made the decision at its meeting on 19 November.

To determine the impact of introducing collections of flexible plastics and separate weekly collections of food waste for recycling on current services, Wiltshire Council has been supported by the government funded advisory charity, WRAP in facilitating technical options modelling to inform decision-making. The criteria used to assess the impacts of different future recycling collection services included revenue costs including costs of capital borrowing, kerbside recycling performance and carbon emissions.

The changes to the current arrangements are necessary as the council, and all local authorities, need to comply with new statutory requirements under the Environment Act 2021, which confirms that councils must offer households a regular collection of the following recyclable items:

• Glass
• Metal
• Plastic (including flexible plastics from 2027)
• Paper and card
• Food waste (from 2027)
• Garden waste (charges for collection may be applied)

Aside from food waste and flexible plastics, Wiltshire Council already collects all of those materials. As previously confirmed, it has agreed with Defra to collect food waste by August 2027 and flexible plastics must be collected from households by April 2027.

A process will get underway to secure contracts for the recycling collection changes to be introduced in 2027. The alternative option was to retain the current ‘Twin Stream’ approach, with some amendments in order to collect flexible plastics and to enhance recycling sorting facility performance, but this set-up is not currently maximising the council’s recycling capabilities, due to less materials being successfully captured for recycling during the sorting process than expected, and technical modelling showed that this option would also be more expensive overall than the proposed three stream recycling collection.

Cllr Dominic Muns, Cabinet Member for Waste, said: “I am pleased that we now have a preferred option on our future recycling collections, and this means we can now start the process to secure a provider to deliver these services from 2027.

“Any potential change that affects all households in the county cannot be done lightly and that’s why we’ve carried out an extensive level of due diligence to ensure the decision we make is the right one.

“Our focus is ensuring residents have the very best opportunities to recycle as much as possible from the kerbside, that we meet all our obligations as set out in the Environment Act and that these services are financially sustainable.

“Together with all other local authorities, we are awaiting further clarification on certain aspects of the Environment Act and when that comes through that too may impact our plans.

“It’s important to note that the decision we’ve made is just the first step, and that residents will not see any changes to their collections for a few years. We’ll keep people updated as this process continues”.

In the last financial year (2023/24), the council recycled, reused or composted 43.7% of Wiltshire’s household waste, that is nearly a 4% increase from the previous financial year (40%). Through its award-winning Recycling: Let’s Sort It campaign the council is encouraging people to ensure they are recycling as much as possible and putting the correct items in the right bins. When the campaign began, over 5,000 bins were rejected during March 2023, compared to just over 1,000 bins being rejected in March 2024. 

The full cabinet report that was presented on 19 November can be found at Meeting - Democratic Services - Wiltshire Council.

More information about the council’s current recycling services can be found at https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/recycling