We have to do this because the law has changed - we must expand our recycling offer at the kerbside. Nearly 83% of the 8000 residents that answered our consultation agreed that recycling more of our waste is important. We are moving to three-weekly grey bin collections as otherwise we would have to hugely increase council tax. Over 50% of the waste that currently goes in your grey bin can go in the other bins. We have listened to you and have made changes to the service. Those without the extra room to store the new bins will be offered an alternate waste service.
๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐จ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐ฃ๐๐ฃ๐?
Braintree District Council is changing the way waste is collected, with the following service in operation from June 2026:
- Grey bins, collected every three weeks
- Food caddy, collected weekly (now collected from flats as well)
- NEW Glass, Metal and Plastic bin, collected every four weeks (alternate with Paper bin)
- NEW Paper and Card bin, collected every four weeks (alternate with Glass bin)
- Green Garden Waste bin, collected every two weeks (no change)
๐๐๐ฎ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช ๐๐ค๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ?
Changes to the law mean that every council in the UK must expand its recycling offer, including kerbside glass collection, from 2026. If we did not act to improve our recycling offer now, we would be in breach of the law and open to a legal challenge. The Government has a target of recycling 65% of its waste by 2035. During our consultation, 83% of you agreed that it was important we meet recycling targets, with 63% saying the current recycling service did not meet your needs.
๐๐๐ฎ ๐๐ค๐ก๐ ๐ ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ๐ช๐ก๐ฉ๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ค๐ช ๐ฌ๐๐ง๐๐ฃโ๐ฉ ๐๐ค๐๐ฃ๐ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ก๐๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐ค ๐ช๐จ?
We have listened to residents. This policy has been fiercely debated internally, and the views of the nearly 8,000 of you that responded to the consultation have been fully taken into account. We have made a number of changes from the original policy:
- In response to the concerns about smelly bins, we will introduce an Absorbent Hygiene Product (AHP) service, that will collect three out of every four weeks sanitary waste in sacks from the kerbside. This is a better, more frequent service for the collection of these products than we have currently. More information about this can be found at the link below.
- In response to concerns about where extra bins will be stored, we will offer a Non-Standard Waste Collection service. This will include having fewer bins. We have already assessed 43,000 properties in the District, and currently 13% of them qualify for this service. There will also be smaller trays for those who cannot accommodate / donโt need a larger bin.
๐๐๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐-๐ฌ๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ฎ ๐๐ง๐๐ฎ ๐๐๐ฃ ๐๐ค๐ก๐ก๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ?
This was a tough decision. We are moving to three-weekly grey bins for two key reasons:
- Option 2b of the Waste Review, which included two weekly grey bin collections, would have resulted in a ยฃ400,000 increase in our waste budget, meaning we would have to hugely increase Council Tax next year.
- With our expanded recycling offer, over 50% of the waste that currently goes into your grey bin will go into the new bins, meaning less waste in your grey bin. This includes food, paper and card, glass and plastics.
๐๐๐๐ฉ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ค๐ฃโ๐ฉ ๐๐๐ซ๐ ๐ง๐ค๐ค๐ข ๐ฉ๐ค ๐จ๐ฉ๐ค๐ง๐ ๐๐ก๐ก ๐ค๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ญ๐ฉ๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐จ?
We will offer a Non-Standard Service that will include fewer bins (see the link below for more information). We have conducted an assessment of 44,000 properties across the District, and found that 13% of them currently qualify for this service. There will be an opportunity for residents to challenge whether their property qualifies for the service. We will also offer, where an extra recycling bin is not an option, up to 4 x 55 litre stackable boxes (with lids to keep contents dry) per bin. More information, including about whether you qualify for this service, will come as part of our massive communications plan
๐๐๐๐ฃ ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐ก ๐ ๐๐๐ฉ ๐ฉ๐๐๐จ๐ ๐ฃ๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฃ๐จ?
The new service will commence on 1st June 2026. A massive communications operation is planned to inform residents about these changes, including a new paper calendar, and information on when you will receive the new bins will be a part of that.
๐๐๐๐ฉโ๐จ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐๐ก๐ฉ๐๐ง๐ฃ๐๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐?
We could have opted not to expand our recycling offer, which would have left us open to a legal challenge. We could have opted not to shift grey bins to a three-weekly collection, but this would have hugely increased the cost to the taxpayer and thus pushed up Council Tax. We will not allow Braintree to descend into the chaos seen on the streets of Birmingham - we will take steps to ensure our waste policy is fit for the 21st Century.
You can find the full text of this policy at this link, which I would encourage anyone interested to take a look at: https://bit.ly/bdcwastepolicy
