Overview
- Councils are moving residual waste to a three-week cycle alongside weekly food and fortnightly recycling pickups, affecting more than two million residents over the next year.
- Coverage cites projections that the total could reach about 2.3 million people by June 2026 as further areas adopt the model.
- Recent decisions and rollouts include North and East Hertfordshire, West Berkshire, Mid Sussex (from November), Blackpool (spring), Lancaster (from April), Cheshire East (next spring), East Suffolk (May), Mid Suffolk (June), Braintree (June 2026) and North Somerset (2026).
- Backlash has been strong, with 84% of Cheshire East consultation respondents opposed, petitions in Lancaster, and Hertfordshire residents reporting overflowing bins and pest concerns.
- Implementation has brought delays and confusion such as late bin deliveries and more containers per household, while some councils offer mitigations like free fortnightly collections for nappies and other absorbent hygiene products; Defra says weekly food-waste collections and consistent recycling will be standard nationwide.