Households will be able to recycle more, and keep fortnightly black bin collections, under plans for Tendring’s next waste service.

Tendring District Council’s (TDC) waste contract, currently held by Veolia, runs until 2026 but due to the size of the service work is already underway looking at the next contract.

In an update to full council tonight (Tuesday, 28 November), TDC Cabinet Member for Environment Mike Bush said the authority was intending to continue with fortnightly collections of residual – black bin – waste.

The council would also be looking to collect a wider range of recyclable material, in line with the government’s Simpler Recycling proposals published earlier this month.

“It is still a long process to design, procure and agree our next waste collection contract, but I wanted to set out our intentions now,” Councillor Bush said.

“Those intentions are to continue with fortnightly collections of black bag waste, and to look to collect more recycling than we currently do. This will be refined over the coming months and years, and particularly around recycling may change as national environmental policy is amended.

“Feedback given to us in the recent Corporate Plan consultation was clear that residents did not want a reduction in waste collections, and wanted us to explore collecting more materials for recycling – we have listened to that, and acted upon it.

“Clearly budgets are a key consideration when developing our new service. It is too early to suggest how much the new services will cost and we will not know that until we have undertaken a tender exercise; but I am committed to getting the best services for Tendring residents at the best price and maximising any government new burdens grants that might be available.”

Councillor Bush also confirmed TDC was looking to continue to outsource its waste collection contract.

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