Food waste: Gosport to miss government deadline to bring in new collections - despite being given almost £900,000
Several councils across the south will miss the upcoming deadline for introducing food collection waste - and Gosport is one of them.
The Simpler Recycling policy, proposed by Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government and being implemented by the current Labour administration, aims to make sure that all areas of the country can and do recycle the same thing.
Until now, for example, people in Cornwall, London and Kent visiting this part of Hampshire may look at us askance when we explain we cannot put yoghurt pots in our kerbside recycling. Other areas of the country can recycle tin foil.
And even round here there are differences - in Portsmouth you can take Tetrapak cartons and hard plastic to big communal bins in public places. Over the hill in the Winchester City Council area, or in Fareham, you can’t.
So this was all due to change at the end of March, with food waste bins dished out to every household which has not previously had one, and recycling standardised - but an investigation by the BBC has revealed that not all councils are ready for the switch.
In this area the BBC has been told that Gosport Borough Council, East Hampshire District Council and Chichester District Council will miss the deadline. Others in the south that will miss the deadline are New Forest District, Bournemouth Christchurch and Poole, and in Sussex, Horsham, Worthing and Adur district councils.
Gosport is planning on starting food waste collections in October. It has been given £892,846.36 to implement the scheme by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. East Hampshire could not confirm start date, according to the BBC, and has been given £1,693,647.11 in grants.
Portsmouth, Fareham, Havant and Winchester councils are all on track.
Many councils have blamed the delay on the surge in demand for new specialist vehicles, as well as issues with funding despite over £340m in grants from Defra.
A Defra spokesperson said: “From March, every household in England will receive weekly food waste collections and will have the same materials collected for recycling.
“This will end the postcode lottery of bin collection and help keep our streets cleaner, while empowering local authorities to continue to deliver services in the way that works best for their communities.”
Cllr Julie Westerby, chair of Gosport’s community and environment board, said: "Gosport Borough Council is committed to introducing food waste recycling from each household, with the new collection service scheduled to begin in October 2026.
”We recognise that this is six months beyond the original central government deadline, but supply and demand pressures on food waste vehicle manufacturing, resulting in extended production times, mean the delay is unavoidable. Our revised implementation schedule has been notified to central government.
“We have secured four food waste vehicles, along with 32,000 kerbside containers and 38,000 kitchen caddies, ready for distribution to residents in September. Guidance will be given to residents on what to do when their caddies arrive and how to use them once collections start.”