Nik Hughes‑Roberts MCIWM, CENV, Director at Recircle Consulting, explores progress by local authorities in implementing Simpler Recycling and what this means for future waste performance.
As 2026 begins, local authorities are now rolling out changes to household waste services, driven by Simpler Recycling. So, are we on track for the deadlines, and what difference will these changes make to England’s waste performance?
Are local authorities on track to meet the Phase 2 requirements?
Let’s start by reminding ourselves what Simpler Recycling is. Simpler Recycling aims to improve England’s waste management by widening mandatory recycling collections and creating more consistent services nationwide. By standardising targeted materials, it intends to reduce confusion, increase recycling rates, and improve material quality. Implementation is split into three phases:
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- Phase 1 – by 31 March 2025: Mandatory recycling collections for businesses (except for micro-businesses, defined as those with fewer than ten employees).
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- Includes the mandatory requirement for collections of a core set of dry recyclable materials, along with separate food waste collections.
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- Phase 2 – by 31 March 2026: Mandatory food waste collections from all households.
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- A broader scope of dry recycling materials, which must be collected from households, with cartons being the main addition.
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- Phase 3 – by 31 March 2027: Mandatory flexible plastics collections.
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- Simpler Recycling requirements scope extended to micro-businesses.
This review focuses on local authority progress as we approach the end of the financial year – and the expected widespread rollout of Phase 2 services.
Food waste
Progress appears to be positive, though not without challenges. Approximately 50% of local authorities collected food waste before the Simpler Recycling requirements, but not always from all households.
At the start of this financial year, there were approximately 150 local authorities without any food waste collection service in place, and a further 115 needed to extend coverage.
I’ve been working with WRAP for around 18 months to help local authorities procure food waste collection equipment and provide guidance on service implementation, and this work has shown that the sector faces several key challenges, including:
- Long lead times for equipment due to limited manufacturing capacity;
- Depot space is limiting the ability to accommodate additional vehicles and staff;
- Limited tipping space at waste transfer stations;
- Stricter operational requirements for handling food waste (e.g. ABPR compliance).
These issues add cost and time pressures at a point when local authority finances are already stretched. Upgrading waste transfer stations, for example, can require consent changes, new working practices, or even land acquisition.
Despite this, momentum is strong. Around three-quarters of the required equipment is already on order, and most areas should have food waste collections in place during 2026, while perhaps not by the end of March. Some local authorities will inevitably slip into 2027, especially given vehicle lead times of over 12 months.
The next major challenge is processing capacity. Separate food waste collections provide key environmental benefits: energy generation, soil improvers, waste diversion, and increased awareness of the food waste problem stimulating behaviour change.
However, current treatment infrastructure is unevenly distributed. Whether there will be sufficient future processing capacity is of serious concern, which could cause some real headaches for local authorities and waste management companies in the coming months and years.
As collected volumes grow, the risk of regional shortfalls increases. If I were to attempt to gaze into the future of our industry, I would forecast some serious challenges for food waste processing emerging over the next few years, as volumes of separately collected food waste increase and the development of infrastructures lags due to the lengthy periods of policy uncertainty we have seen in the past, and the long development timelines for processing infrastructure.
Cartons
Carton collections are easier to implement from a service perspective. Around 65% of authorities already collect them, and they can usually be added to an existing stream with updated communications. But processing is the real bottleneck.
In most cases, cartons won’t be separately collected, meaning they will be part of a mixed stream, which requires processing to separate the materials into their component fractions. Simpler Recycling sets out a preference for collection with containers, and whilst this is not always the case for current collections, if we assume this will occur in future, then cartons will generally go to an MRF for sorting.
Most MRFs do not currently separate cartons for recycling, meaning they may end up in fibre streams or be disposed of as residual waste.
MRF operators may need to change their operations and make investments at their facilities to change this, and the cost/benefit analysis of such investment may not be favourable for a low-volume waste stream, with such investment ultimately needing to be recovered through income from customers.
Even when separated, reprocessing options are extremely limited: only one facility in the UK handles composite cartons, with others located in mainland Europe. This brings additional transport costs and political complications associated with exporting waste. The cost-effectiveness of recycling cartons is also a difficult topic.
It is entirely possible that local authorities could offer complete coverage for carton collections, yet due to the separation and reprocessing arrangements, only a small proportion of these cartons may actually be recycled.
During the course of time, more carton processing capacity may be developed, which could improve this situation, but it is equally possible that cartons will become less favoured by packaging manufacturers as a result of the cost of processing and the influences of pEPR.
The long-term uncertainties in the volume of this material stream and the high cost of processing could mean local authorities are reluctant to push this initiative, compared to the benefits that can be gained from food waste recycling.
Flexible plastics
Flexible plastics present handling challenges due to their very low bulk density. The FlexCollect trial (2022-2025) tested how flexible plastics could be collected and recycled from household kerbside collections across a sample of ten local authorities covering 160,000 households.
The results indicate that the collection and recycling of flexible plastics is viable, with the trial achieving high participation rates, low contamination, and good feedback from residents in the participating areas.
Local authorities will need to choose between:
- Using dedicated collection bags for easier separation at MRFs; or
- Mixing flexible plastics with existing streams requires MRFs to separate them.
For the latter option, MRFs will need to have the capability to separate this material for recycling. The majority of MRFs cannot currently do this via automated processes (with the notable exception of the Sherbourne Recycling MRF in Coventry), although manual picking remains an option.
Beyond the trial areas, there is little evidence of authorities implementing flexible plastic collections yet. Whilst in theory, local authorities can add flexible plastics to existing waste collections through communications, the challenges around separation and reprocessing are likely to be the key constraint to a successful waste system for flexible plastics.
The FlexCollect report highlights a critical shortage in processing capacity, which will need to be addressed in the longer term, much the same as for food waste processing capacity.
If most MRFs can’t yet deal with this material, will local authorities choose to use dedicated collection bags to mitigate this problem? Will MRFs adapt their process to separate plastic film, or will the operators choose to make this investment if dedicated collection bags are an option? And perhaps most crucially, where will the flexible plastics be sent for reprocessing after separation?
It will take time to establish such infrastructure. Will waste management companies be willing to make this investment when there is uncertainty in the volume and quality of material which will be moving through the waste collection system? There are many variables linked to the future success of flexible plastic recycling.
What happens next?
Food waste, arguably the most challenging service to implement, but the one with the greatest environmental and financial benefits, is progressing well. Collection equipment lead times are causing a bottleneck, but the implementation process has gathered momentum, and services will be rolled out soon.
We can be certain that there will not be 100% coverage by the end of the financial year, but substantial progress should be made throughout 2026. This notwithstanding, there could be a subsequent issue emerging with processing capacity.
Cartons and flexible plastics will likely be easier to collect, but potentially with similar (or worse) issues around the processing of the collected materials, and a reluctance to invest capital funding into projects which have significant uncertainty. The financial and environmental benefits of these collections are perhaps also less tangible. These factors may limit the pace of rollout.
While substantial implementation work will continue beyond March 2026, progress is clearly being made. After years of stagnating recycling rates and stable residual waste volumes, FY26-27 may finally mark a turning point.
With food waste dominating residual waste composition, the widespread rollout of separate food waste collections has a real potential to drive performance improvements. Simpler Recycling’s aims – to make recycling easier, improve consistency, raise recycling rates and quality, and to divert food waste – do now seem to be within reach.