‘Very poor’ recycling rate could cost Sandwell Council millions

The borough, which has one of the worst recycling rates in the country, will receive millions under a new government levy on packaging on the strict condition Sandwell Council runs an “efficient and effective collection and recycling service.”

However, there are fears the money could be lost unless recycling rates “significantly” improve.

The cost of having to get rid of non-recyclable waste is also set to rise and could end up costing the council a further £4.5m based on current recycling rates.

Sandwell ranks among the worst areas for recycling in England with not only low levels of recycling but also high levels of contamination where the wrong waste is put in the wrong bins. As little as 29% of the borough’s rubbish is recycled compared to 41% nationally, ranking Sandwell 309th out of the 343 English councils.

Sandwell Council was given just over £7m by the government as part of the new ‘extended producer responsibilities for packaging’ levy – an award that was “more than expected” according to council bosses due to the lowly rates – which forces businesses to pay a fee for the disposal of packaging they supply or import into the UK. The move is aimed at shifting the cost to ‘the polluter’ rather than council taxpayers with the money raised then distributed to local councils to help run recycling collections and services.

The concerns were raised at a meeting of Sandwell Council’s budget scrutiny board on Thursday (January 23).

Alan Lunt, the council’s director for place, said at the meeting: “The more we can get into the recycling and away from the residual the better.

“At the moment we really perform badly which costs us now and if we don’t improve our performance moving forward, the £7.1m grant we have got… that will reduce significantly unless we significantly increase our performance.

“At the moment we are very near the bottom of the national table and that is something that simply can’t continue because it will cost us significantly in years to come.”

Cllr Keith Allcock, cabinet member for the environment, added: “Natural human behaviour is that we don’t like change but in this particular case I think we’ve got the opportunity to put in a top class service in place and improve our collection service to the public as well because we are going to address other issues with Serco to get the performance correct.

“This is a really good opportunity to make a difference for the borough and its residents.”

From April 2026, the requirement for most households and workplaces will be four containers separating waste between non-recycable, food waste, paper and card, and a final bag for dry recyclables such as plastic, metal and glass. The new bags for dry recycling will carry a ‘one-off’ cost of £450,000, the council said.

Sandwell Council is planning to move from weekly to fortnightly collections – a move it says will save £2.6 million this year and £4m in subsequent years.

Most of the savings this year would be made by sacking around 35 staff and taking 13 bin lorries off the road.

Sandwell Council signed a £650m 25-year contract with Serco to collect the borough’s bins in 2010.

Sandwell Council has proposed a “very conservative” six per cent increase in recycling rates which it hopes would save £2m by reducing costs.

The council said having to dispose of waste was more expensive than recycling it with the cost of recycling glass and plastics around £20 per tonne compared to £120 to incinerate it.