Leeds Council considering plans to give out 70,000 more brown bins and include food waste
Thousands more households in the city could get a brown bin under possible changes to food waste recycling.
Leeds City Council said it was now considering plans to allow both garden and food waste to be deposited in brown bins.
It follows the introduction of glass recycling using household green bins, which came into force on August 1.
A consultation will be launched on the proposal, which could see around 70,000 more Leeds households become eligible for a brown bin.
Coun Mohammed Rafique, executive member for environment, revealed the plan at a full council meeting on Wednesday (Sep 11).
He said the city was already meeting its requirements to recycle metals, plastic, paper and glass.
Coun Rafique said: “That leaves food waste as the remaining waste stream to collect and recycle.
“We are therefore considering allowing food waste to be presented with garden waste in brown bins, expanding the current service to be all year round and made available to more households.”
Coun Rafique, Labour member for Chapel Allerton, said the council was awaiting information from the government on future funding for food waste collection.
A decision could be made later this year on whether to proceed with the brown bins scheme.
Coun Rafique said: “This would mean Leeds would remain a three-bin city, but offering a full range of recycling options.”
Further options would be considered over food waste recycling for households without a brown bin, he added.
The city’s Labour group was forced to defend its overall performance on refuse collection at the meeting.
Coun Mark Dobson, leader of the Garforth and Swillington Independents, tabled a motion saying the service had been below standard this spring and summer.
He told the Leeds Civic Hall meeting: “The refuse service is currently broken.”
Opposition councillors called for a cross-party working group to tackle missed bin collections, saying they received many complaints from householders.
But a Labour amendment was passed, saying more than 10.5m household bins had been emptied around the city so far this year.
The city’s refuse staff had also been collecting a 30 per cent increase in green bin contents, Labour said.