Future waste and recycling collections
Rubbish and recycling collections from homes in Herefordshire will remain the same in 2024.
Due to the impact of cost-of-living pressures and the uncertainty over funding for councils nationwide, plans for additional waste services, including offering homes a food waste collection and separate bins for paper and card, will be phased in dependant on further announcements from central government.
Collection days will remain the same for the time being.
Should there be any changes to the services, residents will be notified well in advance.
Frequently asked questions about future waste and recycling collections
Will my bin collection change this year or next year?
No, we're not making any change to the current bin collections for the remainder of 2023 or throughout 2024.
Why is the change to our bin collection and recycling taking so long?
Our plan to introduce new bins to help with your recycling has changed.
As the council responds to the pressures of the cost-of-living increases, it will look to phase in the additional services.
We are taking this approach to ensure residents can continue to receive a reliable and good-value-for-money service.
When will a food waste collection be introduced?
The collection of food waste is part of the package of new services being phased in at a later date.
Is the garden waste collection changing?
The collection of garden waste will remain the same in 2024, with green sacks available to purchase from the council or approved outlets and collected alongside the black bin.
Home composting garden waste can be free and provides you with a useful fertilizer for your garden. Visit our garden waste and composting pages for more information.
Following recent confirmation from government regarding their waste strategy, we now know that all councils will be asked to provide a separate garden waste collection service.
One possibility we're considering is a separate subscription-based garden waste service starting from April 2025.
Please complete this short survey to help us understand the level of potential interest in this service. The closing date for responses is Friday 19 January 2024.
Can I start sorting my recycling into extra bins?
We encourage you to recycle as much as possible within the existing green recycling bin. Visit our what to recycle page for more information.
On average there is still 8% of items in the black bin which could be recycled using the green bin so please take a look at our guide to see if you could recycle more.
Is the council on track to hit their 2030 carbon net-zero goals?
We are on track to achieve our carbon net-zero goals in 2030.
We are constantly looking at how best we can help our residents and businesses reduce the waste they generate and minimize the impact they have on the environment.
The long-term ambition to reach our goals remains unchanged. For more information visit our climate pages.
What about the government's announcement of "Simpler Recycling"?
We are currently awaiting further information from central government regarding the new "Simpler Recycling" scheme.
Visit our reduce, reuse and recycle section for advice on reducing your waste at home.
Not all waste can be recycled, what will continue to happen to non-recyclable waste?
Non-recyclable waste will continue to be sent to EnviRecover - where it is used to create electricity.
In the year 2022/23, 99% of all non-recyclable waste collected at the kerbside and from the non-recyclable waste containers at household recycling centres was processed at EnviRecover and we are on track to achieve this gain in the year 2023/24.