When England introduced reforms to standardise recycling collections, local authorities were faced with a challenge that went beyond adding another bin. For dense urban environments, especially flats, high-rise developments and mixed-use buildings, the question was how to make mandated food waste and future soft plastics collections work in locations where space is limited, residents are transient and recycling behaviours can be difficult to influence.
Cathy Cook, senior advisor at ReLondon, has been involved in helping local authorities navigate these challenges. Speaking about England’s simpler recycling reforms at the recent Coffs Harbour Waste 2026 conference, Cook outlined both the opportunities and obstacles that have emerged as councils work towards consistent collections across households, businesses and workplaces.
A shift in recycling policy
According to Cook, England’s simpler recycling reforms stem from the Resources and Waste Strategy published in 2018 by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), representing one of the biggest shake-ups of waste legislation in decades.
“There were three areas of reform underneath this strategy: simple recycling, which applies to England only; extended producer responsibility, which you’ve got a form of here that applies to all four nations; and the Deposit Return Scheme, which is the return and earn scheme that you have here, that also applies to all four UK nations,” she said.
The reforms were designed to bring greater consistency to recycling services after years of variation between local authorities.
“A few years ago, one of the ministers looked at collection of recycling across the UK and said, ‘you’ve got different materials, you’ve got different frequencies, you’ve got different bin colours… we need some sort of consistency’,” said Cook.
Under the reforms, local authorities are required to provide collections for a standard set of dry recyclables and food waste. While councils have flexibility regarding collection systems and frequencies for most materials, food waste collections are mandatory on a weekly basis for households.
To support implementation, the UK Government provided £295 million in funding for local authorities.
“If a government is telling you that you have to do something under legislation, they will provide funding for you to do that,” Cook said.
However, despite the funding, implementation has not been straightforward. Many councils faced procurement bottlenecks as they simultaneously attempted to acquire food waste caddies, collection vehicles and other equipment.
Why participation depends on convenience
While infrastructure is important, Cook said successful food waste collections depend on making participation as easy as possible for residents.
One issue that emerged early was the provision of food waste liners. Funding provided through the reforms did not cover liners, despite evidence suggesting they are critical to maintaining participation rates.
“We spoke to DEFRA about this, and we said, ‘Look, we’ve done a lot of studies to show if you don’t provide liners, then participation will drop off’, but they said that they weren’t going to fund that,” said Cook.
Cook said experience from multiple projects has consistently demonstrated the importance of convenience. She said if you provide necessities that aid in carrying out the collections, then participation remains high, but if bin liners or other necessary products are no longer available, then participation drops off. People are reluctant to spend money on such items, so councils and other local bodies have to make it as easy as possible for people to participate.
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Research has also highlighted several factors that influence food waste capture rates. Collection frequency for residual waste plays a major role, with less frequent residual collections driving higher food waste participation.
“If you are collecting your residual waste weekly, it’s a lot lower yield, because obviously people will just put it in the residual,” said Cook. “If it goes to fortnightly, or even three weekly, or four weekly, you will find you’ll get a lot more food waste, because obviously people don’t want to wait three or four weeks to get rid of their food waste.”
Cook also pointed to deprivation levels and resident engagement as influences on recycling performance.
“We’ve found that these three things together – liners, leaflets, stickers – work a real treat,” she said. “If you miss one out, then it’s not so great.”
The challenge, she noted, is finding the resources to continually engage residents and maintain participation over time.
Making recycling work in flats
For ReLondon, one of the areas of focus has been improving recycling performance in flats and high-density housing. London presents a difficult environment. The city contains large numbers of flats, high levels of deprivation in some areas and high population turnover. Recycling rates vary between inner and outer boroughs, reflecting the challenges associated with dense urban living. Cook said research undertaken by ReLondon identified a series of recurring barriers. Such as?
“Lack of space, levels of deprivation,” she said. “Language is quite an interesting one in London. In some boroughs we’ve got over 200 different languages. It’s a very multicultural space, so communication is a struggle. A lot of the time, people only spend maybe six months in their flat, maybe up to a year, and then they’ve gone.”
She also highlighted the issue of anonymity, which does not encourage people to do the right thing.
“If you go down to the bin and you just want to put whatever you want to put in there, if you’re in a flat, who’s going to know?” she said.
To better understand how residents interact with recycling infrastructure, ReLondon undertook a research project focused on flats. Rather than designing systems solely from a waste management perspective, the organisation examined how residents moved through and used their buildings.
“We did a lot of ethnographic research,” said Cook. “Rather than having our waste management hat on and saying, ‘well, we’re going to go to this block of flats and we think this bin should go here’, we put our head into the minds of the residents that live there.”
The research considered practical factors often overlooked in traditional service design.
“If I’m coming out of my door and I’m going to work, where’s the best place for my bin?” said Cook. “If I’m a single woman, do I really want to go to a dark corner of the flats with no lighting and go and take my waste there?”
Working directly with residents helped identify suitable locations for recycling infrastructure and generated good results, although Cook noted that maintaining those gains requires ongoing effort and resources.
The importance of maintenance and future challenges
One of the key findings from ReLondon’s work was that successful recycling systems in flats are often built around relatively simple principles rather than complex technological solutions. Cook stressed there was no secret formula.
“It’s not rocket science,” she said. “What we basically found is: clean your bins, have really good signage, and put your bins where people think they want to go.”
However, maintaining those conditions requires constant attention. Cook said that once a bin gets dirty, or a light goes out in a bin store, then people don’t want to use it. She said it’s about keeping on top of these issues the whole time.
The challenge becomes even greater in flats above shops, which ReLondon studied through a dedicated project known as FLASH. These properties present unique difficulties due to limited space, multiple stakeholders, planning constraints and heavy street activity.
“You have so many users of the street,” she said. “Then you have so many stakeholders involved, and you’ve got planning permission that you need to think about, and you’ve got heritage areas you need to think about.”
Cook said providing services to every household, as required under the reforms, remains difficult in these environments.
“We’ve said to DEFRA, ‘you want us to put in these services to all households?’ They have said all households, no restraint, absolutely every single household,” she said.
Looking ahead, the next challenge will be the introduction of flexible plastics collections. Trials involving 10 councils found many residents preferred using dedicated collection bags, although maintaining bag supplies remains an ongoing issue. At the same time, questions remain about processing capacity, which Cook acknowledges is limited.
While England has now mandated collection of flexible plastics, she said developing the infrastructure needed to process the material remains an issue.
As local authorities continue implementing food waste services and prepare for flexible plastics collections, Cook’s experience suggests that success depends not only on legislation and infrastructure, but also on understanding how people live, designing services around their daily routines and maintaining systems that residents find easy and convenient to use.