Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure local authorities have (a) clear guidance and (b) funding to meet the March 2026 deadline for collecting (i) food, (ii) drink, (iii) liquid cartons and (iv) other core recyclable materials under Simpler Recycling reforms.

We have published guidance to assist local authorities, other waste collectors and workplaces implement the Simpler Recycling requirements on GOV.UK. This includes guidance on:

• Simpler recycling: household recycling in England
• Simpler recycling: workplace recycling in England
• Collecting paper and card with other dry recyclable materials: written assessments
• Ensuring good waste collection services for households

We welcome stakeholder feedback, and we are working with our networks of local authority and waste collector stakeholders, as well as sector experts the Waste and Resources Action Programme, to identify and develop additional guidance where appropriate.

Regarding funding, Extended Producer Responsibility payments will be provided to local authorities for the costs of collecting and managing household packaging waste through efficient and effective services. This includes the collection of additional packaging materials for recycling such as plastic films and flexibles.

We have provided local authorities in England with £261.66 million in capital and £56.2 million in resource funding for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years for the weekly collection of food waste from households. A second resource funding payment will be provided in the 2025/26 financial year. Ongoing resource funding from 1 April 2026 is subject to an agreement through a further spending review.