Decision details

Decision made: (CAB 24/25 48235)

On consideration of the report of the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, Cabinet approved the following:

(i)  To approve a formal procurement process for the purchase of Refuse Collection Vehicles (RCV’s) for the purpose of food waste collections.

(ii)  To approve a formal procurement process for the purchase of various caddies and kerbside containers for the purpose of food waste collections.

(iii)  To delegate authority to the Executive Director - Resident Services to carry out the procurement process and to enter into a contract for the purchase of RCV’s and all bins/caddies for the delivery of the food waste service in accordance with the Contract Procedure Rules.

(iv)  To authorise the Executive Director - Resident Services, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport, to take all necessary actions to give effect to the recommendations of this report.

(v)  To approve the addition, with approval to spend, of £0.309M to the Food Waste Implementation capital project in the Resident Services capital programme funded by government grant.  This will increase the capital budget for the project to £2.109M.

(vi)  To approve the carry forward of the 2024/25 revenue new burdens funding of the value £444,927 into the 2025/26 financial year in advance of the carry forward process in the Financial Outturn report due to be presented to Cabinet in July to enable expenditure to be incurred against this grant immediately in 2025/26. 

Under the Environment Act 2021, local authorities must provide kerbside weekly household food waste collection services by 31 March 2026 in order to remain compliant. The council does not currently offer this service, so therefore must look to introduce it to remain compliant with the legislation. 

1.  Do nothing - This option was rejected. The council will have no equipment or infrastructure to collect food waste from residents from 1 April 2026 when the new legislation comes into force and therefore SCC would be in breach of legislation.

2.  Delay the commencement of procurement activity – This option was rejected. The limited capacity of the supply chain to meet a nationwide demand for specialist food waste collection vehicles and containers poses a delivery risk to meeting the statutory deadline. Any further delay to commencing procurement is likely to increase the risk that vehicles and equipment are not received in time and may lead to additional unnecessary expenditure of leasing vehicles on a temporary basis.

3.  Joint procurement with other local authorities – this option was rejected. While Southampton are commencing their food waste implementation journey, a number of other local authorities, especially neighbouring authorities, already have food collections in place for residents and therefore have no need to commence procurement for these items. Furthermore, other local authorities who will be implementing in line with the legislative deadlines have already commenced their own procurement activities so this further restricts SCC’s ability to undertake joint procurement exercises.