Since April, more than 572 tonnes of food waste have been collected and recycled.

Over the first eight weeks, even more people are using the food waste collections, with tonnage increasing by 57%.

Enveco NW Environmental Services is a company wholly owned by Blackpool Council, delivering waste and recycling services and helping to keep Blackpool tidy.

The new food waste service started in April 2026 as part of the government’s Simpler Recycling initiative, where all councils are encouraged work towards a recycling target of 65% by 2035.

Blackpool’s previous recycling rate was 45% - one of the highest in Lancashire but still some way from the national target, meaning that changes were needed to reach the government’s target.

Collected food waste is now recycled and transformed into renewable energy and agricultural products, supporting both increased recycling and a greener future for Blackpool.

As well as introducing weekly food waste collections, larger brown and blue bins were delivered to households.

More than 188,000 new recycling bins and food waste caddies have been delivered to households across Blackpool, with paper and card recycling increasing by more than 20% compared with the previous brown sack system.

The cost of green waste collections was reduced to £30 per year to encourage people to recycle more green materials. The cheaper green waste collections have led to almost 10,000 more people taking up the service – an increase of 19% compared to the entire last period.

Grey bin collections were reduced to every three weeks to encourage more people to recycle.

Previously, around a third of waste in the grey bin could have been recycled.

Blackpool’s approach to use three-weekly grey bin collections to encourage recycling was already proven in other areas of the country like Rochdale and Salford.

The early increase in recycling shows that the change to collection frequencies has encouraged more people to increase their recycling.

The next phase of the programme will focus on completing 20,000 deliveries of larger blue recycling bins across collection rounds, further increasing household recycling volumes.

Requests for larger blue bins are currently paused while the borough-wide rollout continues.

Cllr Jane Hugo, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Environment at Blackpool Council, said:

Cllr Adrian Hoyle, Chair of Enveco NW, added:

A major promotional campaign has supported the rollout, including but not limited to direct mail, local media campaigns, community outreach, educational materials and targeted support for residents who may have limited digital access.

As part of the service changes, brown sack recycling collections have ended across Blackpool and have been replaced by the new brown bin service for eligible households.

A trial of community bin hubs was also installed across town, and work continues to grow this programme. The aim is to improve recycling options across community areas for households who are not currently on wheeled bin collections.

Current options for domestic recycling for such households can be found on the council website. As a reminder, residents who have household waste and recycling bins collected from the rear of their property should present their food waste caddy at the front of their property on collection day to ensure it can be safely collected.

Blackpool Council and Enveco NW will continue monitoring service performance, increasing participation in food waste recycling and exploring opportunities to further improve recycling access across the borough.

Together, these changes will help increase recycling rates, reduce waste and create a more sustainable future for generations to come.