Hartlepool to trial additional bin scheme ahead of £1m town-wide roll out

Every household in Hartlepool, and nationwide, must be receiving weekly food waste collections by October 31, 2026.

This was one of the recommendations which came from a national review of waste services by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs under the banner of Simpler Recycling.

Households will be offered two caddies for their food waste, one for the kitchen and one for outside.

The kitchen caddy is intended to be emptied daily by the householder into the external caddy, which will be emptied by a dedicated food waste collection team each week.

Hartlepool Borough Council officers have said it is not possible to introduce a service to all approximately 45,000 properties at the same time.

The latest meeting of the neighbourhood services committee heard the local authority is therefore looking to introduce the scheme early and to phase it in over six months from October 2025.

It was agreed the trial collections will commence in Rossmere ward as it “provides a good representation of housing types and so provides a good insight into how the scheme will operate”.

The council has been awarded £806,000 from the Government for the mandatory setup of the scheme.

Yet A current shortfall of £206,500 is estimated between the grant provided and the costs anticipated.

Therefore an appeal has been submitted and the committee has also agreed to write to ministers over the issue.

Councillor Karen Oliver, the committee chair, noted education will be key and there is “serious climate change” to tackle.