Dudley Council is overspending on waste collection and the borough is recycling less than the national average.

Figures prepared for November’s meeting of the authority’s Environment and Regeneration Select Committee show in 2022/23 while England overall has a recycling rate of 41.7 percent, Dudley manages just 35.5 percent.

Councillors are considering how to modernise waste collection which currently costs £1.04m more than the service’s annual budget of £17.9m.

Councillor Damian Corfield, Dudley cabinet member for highways and environment, said: “The report to cabinet in October recognised that our recycling rates are lower than the national average. 

“This, combined with our commitment to reducing carbon emissions has led to these proposed improvements to waste and recycling collections.”

Council officers are urging their political masters to accept a range of proposals including fortnightly bin collections from April 2026 along with weekly food waste collections which will be required by law.

Another proposed change would be splitting recycling with a bag retained for paper and cardboard while residents would get a new wheelie bin for cans, plastic and glass.

Cllr Corfield added: “We believe that the proposed fortnightly waste collection and introduction of the mandatory food waste collection service will encourage people to be more mindful of what they purchase, how they dispose of their waste and increase use of the kerbside recycling collection. 

“Moving to fortnightly collections alongside the introduction of weekly food waste collections should encourage residents to make the more use of these recycling opportunities.”

Although the proposals are the cheapest option, the introduction of food waste collection will not help officers balance the books.

While the authority could expect to save £110,000 per year by accepting the plan, and the government has provided £2.7m to fund bins and vehicles for food waste collection, there will be ongoing costs for the council.

Paying for staff, keeping vehicles running, waste disposal and other costs will add a predicted £2.85m per year to the council’s costs unless more cash is provided from other sources.

Currently the council’s bin lorries make up around a third of the authority’s fleet, which produces almost 20 percent of all council’s greenhouse gas emissions.

In the report for the committee, Dudley director of Environment, Nick McGurk, said: “The policy will also lead to a reduced fleet and more environmentally friendly vehicles than the current aged fleet which will further reduce the council’s carbon footprint.”